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Trying to love our community,
--Christina

Triple Picture of the Gospel of Grace

My dear friend Sherry was re-wed to her husband Rusty this past Saturday at our church. I got to coordinate the ceremony!! It was an amazing wedding in which to be so involved, because Sherry was saved only about 7 months ago, out of quite a hard and destructive lifestyle. If you ever get to meet her, her story is amazing! Right away, the Lord gave her a heart to serve and to spend as much time as she could with other believers. I got to know her as we worked together on Fridays at our Clothes Closet. The first time I spoke with her she shared her burden for her former husband "Rusty" (his full name is Christopher, lol). They still loved each other and were in a relationship of sorts because of Corinne (their 3 year old). I got to know Sherry & little Corinne more through VBS, and I still love to hear that little girl belt out the songs & explain what "Hosanna" means. :) Corinne went from being too afraid to be left alone in my care to being my shadow and my trusting, joyful little friend. The Lord has further grown Sherry's and my friendship through shared Bible Study, and just life together as sisters in Christ. All of us were praying the Lord would save Rusty, and even one day, heal their marriage... and ... HE DID!! Rusty was converted in August, and baptized soon thereafter. Our church has been wonderful about discipling them, and now... a godly family has been re-born. What sin had marred and Satan would have loved to keep broken God's grace has healed. Imagine the difference in Corinne's life: instead of growing up split across two homes, surrounded by crime, sin and pain, she has a Daddy AND a Mommy who love her, love each other, and most of all, love Jesus. Instead of growing up hearing the TV and swearing, she is going to grow up hearing songs and stories that exalt our God. Rusty & Sherry will be living with two other Christian families from our church in a huge house in the South End, so she'll be surrounded by other believing families... it's so amazing to me!! This is what the Gospel does! It reconciles: sinners to God, and then to one another.






During the wedding ceremony Pastor Jeff King shared each of their stories, and then charged them to live in this new marriage as new creatures; not acting as they had before, because they aren't those people anymore! It was the best wedding sermon- perhaps the best all-around sermon- I have ever heard Jeff preach, and knowing these people and having seen them through each step was amazing. Seeing Sherry cry under her veil, watching Rusty put his arm around her so tenderly-- these were two amazing pictures of what the Gospel does. It had reconciled them to God: hardened sinners were now weeping joyfully in His presence. Secondly, it had reconciled them to each other; Rusty's arm was around his bride. Thirdly, they were vowing to portray the Gospel in their marriage: Christ leading and loving His Bride, the Church submitting to and helping her Groom. Three times the Gospel.

Wow.

The Gospel Makes Community

...No... make that four pictures of the Gospel:

The fourth Gospel-image I saw in this wedding was the joyful, sacrificial giving our church community displayed. It was so "natural" that it was obviously an overflow of the love of God welling up in hearts, because the kind of serving and giving I witnessed and partook in is NOT "natural!" All day Saturday friends decorated the sanctuary, de-junked the Fellowship Hall and decorated it, and did everything in their power to make the wedding smooth and beautiful. They decorated a home volunteered for a bridal shower, and brought food and gifts and encouragements for the bride-to-be. On Sunday more friends did hair, did makeup, steamed/ironed dresses, videotaped, played music, photographed, baked a wedding cake, prepared and served food, and cleaned up afterward, not to mentioned shared in the joy of their Sister and their Brother. Again, that is the transforming reconciling Grace of God at work, clearly. I pray it was noticed and wondered at by all the non-believers there!

So many joyful faces

The cake made by Warren Kesselring (how cool is HE!??)...

Athena & I thought we were pretty clever in using an old desk for the "cake table"-- don't it look purty?

Every one of those tablecloths was loaned by women in the church. How cool is that!? And the fact that you don't see any chairs stacked or old tables stacked against the walls in that picture is a sign of our hard work the day before-- we were so pleased with how well the former dumping-ground of our church cleaned up!! :)

Some pictures from decorating on Saturday (I can't claim any part in the beauty of the sanctuary-- that was all Lynn Shreve & Athena Kesselring!):

Athena (and Oliver) in action.
Now that is decorating talent: one-handed with a baby on her hip.

Natasha, who helped prepare & serve all the food for the reception, as she gives me a characteristic "are you taking a picture of ME, young lady!??" :)

Birthday Pics

The Birthday Princess (or The Crown, as She Prefers to Call Herself)

My birthday got celebrated several times-- first on Saturday, Sept. 27th at our house with a Fondue Nite (yum!), then quietly on Sunday the 28th (my actual birthday)...although, to be honest I opened all my presents at midnight on the 27th :) so the two days' celebrations sort of blended into one...and again on Tuesday September 30th, with some of the gals from school. Not to mention the 4 days of hugs, cards and gifts from my students and their families!! WOW talk about generosity! :)

Here are several pics of the events. They were so fun, and such a blessing. It's so nice to feel loved and to have people going out of their way to lift you up or encourage you by telling you how you point them to Christ. Amen!

For more pictures, go here.

Fondue Night
three courses of lovely meltedness... first, cheese on apples & bread (one gluten-free pot for Sina & I), second, kabobs of steak and veggies in "Mongolian Hot-Pots", and last but NOT least, chocolate on strawberries & apples. Everyone pitched in, both in bringing the ingredients and in the kitchen-- so fun having so many girlfriends cooking together! Or, I should say prepping, because the beauty of fondue is that the cooking time is DURING the meal!

Guests: Ben & Amanda B. (+ unborn Junior), Jenny & Aaron M. (+ Baby Jane in utero), Ashlea D., & that's Natasha in the kitchen.

Other side of the table (borrowed from church =D): Sina & Dave S., Lyle M., and Samuel M. (Natasha's other half).

The boys' favorite part: the MEAT

The only picture of me from the night... guess who had the camera!

My 23rd Birthday

(carrying props for the SS lesson I taught)

Teacher-Friends Night Out on the Town

Corrie Ann & Sarah (Corky & Beebster, I call them)

Me & Corrie Ann. I don't know what I would do without these girls' smiles, help and encouragement every day!

Our initial plan (Coco's Chocolate Cafe) didn't work out, so we headed over to O'Shea's instead, where I knew they had GREAT desserts, among them...

... the Chocolate Decadence Flourless Torte (Gluten-free!!)

Another fellow teacher, Tekoah, came after we put the camera away... and I forgot to take more with her :(. But I love you and am thankful for you too, Tekoah!!

I've Got Friends in Boston...

Thanks to Jeanette, who pointed this article out to me. Very interesting... quite a different perspective, too. Comments, anyone?

On the Presidential Debates & Forums

We didn't watch them... and while we are quite passionate about politics, they frustrate us and they aren't the Gospel-- they won't save America or anyone, so we don't spend scads of time on them. My brother-in-law & sister-in-law-to-be (in two weeks, yay!) pointed me in this direction. Feel free to read through the transcripts and tell me what you think!
--Christina

Happy Birthday Videos

These will make ANY day happy, actually! :) Last night we watched them at my Fondue Night birthday celebration, and all 12 present were just about rolling on the floor. So, have a happy Christina's birthday, just for me. :) It's my present to you!


It doesn't hurt that this little laugher looks like our friends Glen & Bethany's little boy!


And this one is HILARIOUS! I just wanna know-- where did he LEARN that!? :)


And everybody's favorite...


wow... some people are REALLY into this.

Eve: What Lies Did She Believe, and What Grace Did She Receive?

I meant to say this when I started writing last... but that post turned into more background and big-picture Biblical Theology. I also wanted to share one of the particular stories that I've been chewing on this week. We took two weeks to look at Eve...since, after all... she WAS the first woman... ever. :) Pretty monumental. The first week we looked at her as God intended her to be-- an image of Himself, a little mirror reflecting His glory as she helped Adam & others, cared for Creation, and brought beauty & order into God's Kingdom. This past week, we tackled the Fall. For some reason that is just a facsinating story for every child to whom I've ever told it. I guess because we can all identify with it. We fall every day, and we long for something better. That story tells us why, and what we are longing for without even knowing it!

In teaching, I wanted to ask "what exactly was Eve believing when she bit that fruit?" There's a lot of sermons and songs and poetry out there on this topic, most of them far more profound and poetic than what I'm about to say, but nevertheless here is what I've observed:

Three lies:
1. "You will not surely die." (Gen. 3:4)-- Sin won't hurt me. Whoah! How many times is this Satan's first attack on MY defenses, too? This extra cookie won't hurt me (gluttony). This exaggeration won't hurt me (lying). One more minute won't hurt me (laziness). Etc.

2. "God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened”(Gen 3:5)-- God is holding out on you! What made the Garden of Eden paradise wasn't just the absence of pain or death. It wasn't the perfect climate, ultimate safety & comfort, nor harmony within all Creation. Those all came out of mankind being properly ordered under God. Eden was Paradise because man walked with God! Adam & Eve got to BE WITH GOD! They knew Him perfectly! As Michael Card sings so rightly, "to know Him is paradise." So what's the heart of this lie? There is something better than being in fellowship with God. And that IS a lie: nothing is better than God.

3. "You will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Gen 3:5)-- You should be the Boss. Oh yeah, see this one so blatently in my kids... and... in... myself. What's the #1 reason I sin? Because I'm trying to control a situation I don't like. Reason # 2? Because I'm frustrated that I'm NOT controlling the situation I'm not liking. The first leads to sins like lying, manipulation, pouting, scheming, gossip; the second to sins like expressions of temper, short unkind words, hatred, over-eating. What's the root of all these sins? Pride. Idolatry of self. There's a reason God started off His Moral Law, which shows us our sin (Rom 7:7), with "You shall not have any gods besides Me." (Exodus 20:3) We all have at least one built-in idol: the unholy trinity of me, myself & I.

And a "duh" moment that is so powerful to me: Satan ALWAYS lies!

So those, dear friends, are the fundamental Lies. Arm yourselves against them! How? By putting on the Armor of God, which is actively knowing Christ.

What Grace did Eve receive amidst all her sin? God held out the promise of Truth-- of the Word Incarnate-- amidst the shambles of her lies. He clothed his figleaf-clad children in the skin of an animal; the first death in that young world, and a picture of our Passover Lamb: Jesus Christ.
"I will put enmity between you (Satan) and the woman, and between your Offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel.” (Gen 3:15- the Protoevangelion) God promises here to establish a faithful line, always at war with the line, the family, of Satan, the Evil One. Here God promises a Faithful One who will come of that line, and save that line. That Promised One was Jesus.

I urge you, dear friends, take refuge from the lies of our Enemy the Devil in the Promised One, Jesus. He has crushed the Serpent's head and made atonement for all the times we believed the lies. He has come to be the Truth, the Way back to Paradise-- back to our Father.

I pray I see you there one day!
--Christina

On Stories & Storying the Bible... to See Jesus

My Middle School Girls Bible Study meets every Wednesday at my house, from 4-5. So far it's been fairly well attended, with girls from the neighborhood and families connected somehow to our church attending. Only one is from a stable, two-parent believing family. Wow! What an opportunity to present the Gospel to unsown young fields! Please pray with me that the harvest will be plentiful!


I had no idea what to teach, but the Lord kept laying this age group on my heart. Several things have led me to an ever-deeper understanding to the story of the Bible; while the Bible contains all genres of writing, the vast majority of it is stories, all of them a part of One Story. In His divine wisdom, God gave us stories, not mere commandments, nor formulaic prayers, nor pithy sayings, nor dry historical records. The Bible contains all those things- Law (Leviticus), instruction (NT Epistles), prayers/songs (Psalms), proverbs (Proverbs), and lists of begats- but all of them are set within contexts of real life situations. As Pastor Ryan here at IBC is so fond of saying, in the Book of John we see Jesus giving a teaching, and BOOM there's a real-life story to illustrate it (ex. I am the Light of the World- Jesus heals a man born blind). Teaching pre-school has really immersed me in the narrative of Scripture. So has studying Biblical Theology, and one of my favorite books, The Horse & His Boy (if you don't know how it ties in, feel free to ask me & I'll GLADLY explain). In a church Muslim Evangelism training session, we were taught about "storying" the Bible, which is a highly effective and attractive teaching method, used especially in pre-literate or Eastern cultures. Basically, you tell various stories of the Bible in a logical order, where they build on each other-- starting in Creation, moving through the Fall, all the way to Christ. I love it because it's so natural. It's how little kids naturally learn stuff; they either live out a story or they hear one. We remember stories. We learn who people are by the stories of their lives.

All that to say that I'm teaching a series of stories about women in the Bible-- we're calling it "Women Known By God," and each week, I tell the story of a different woman (or women) in the Bible. But the Bible is all about Jesus, as He reveals the Triune, All-Glorious, worth-knowing God. "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets (that's all those other stories), but in these last days He has spoken to us by his Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power." Heb. 1: 1-3 As we told our Sunday School class a few weeks back, if God looked in the mirror, He'd see Jesus. So as I tell the stories about these very real, very sinful, very ordinary women, the last thing I want to do is focus on the women themselves. The stories are their stories, yes, but the One more visible with each story is God-- is Jesus the Christ. Each week, then, we answer 3 questions after I tell the story: 1. Who is God? 2. What is He like? 3. How does He expect me to act towards Him? Of course our little chart grows with each story, and I pray and hope the girls' visions of God grow too, until He is absolutely irrisistible and wonderful to them.

Pray with me and for me, please! And I challenge you to read the Bible as a story, one in which the main Character is God the One and Only.

--Christina

p.s. Books like The Jesus Story Book Bible (Sally Lloyd-Jones/Jago), or The Big Picture Story Bible (David Helm/Gail Schoonmaker) have helped me immensly-- I'd highly reccomend adult discipleship programs with them as their basis! A good book like those for adults (minus the awesome pictures...) is God's Big Picture, by Vaughan Roberts.

And...it's back!

YAY! At 7:51 this morning, our ceiling fan began turning in our bedroom, and Ryan & I realized the power was BACK! We positively giggled with joy... and turned over to snuggle a little longer. :) Anyway, I sure enjoyed cooking (& even cleaning up!) after dinner with more than just candle light, and was delighted to see our porch light shining cheerily at me when I came back from a girls' nite at Coco's Chocolate Cafe!

We were a little worried that we'd just never get our power back on. I mean, given that many of our neighbors don't exactly PAY their power bills regularly... we knew we weren't high on the priority list...nevertheless, we DO have it back!! :)

Pictures of the day to come... Ryan & I enjoying the Science Museum, and several girl friends & I enjoying Coco's this evening! (it was my friend Sina's birthday)...

Now I think I'd better get off and get ready for the Lord's Day to come! In joyful anticipation of it,

"O Day of Rest & gladness,/ O Day of Joy & Light/ O Balm of care and sadness/ Most beautiful, most bright/ On thee the high & lowly/ Through ages joined in tune/ Sing 'Holy Holy Holy' to the Great God Triune" (O Day of Rest & Gladness, by pastor Christopher Wordsworh-- my favorite Sabbath hymn)

May you enjoy worshipping tomorrow!
--Christina

Still Camping

...here's day 5 of no power... I'm gettin' lots of use out of my pots & pans, since all I can use is our stove right now. We are SO thankful that in God's providence we have GAS heat, not electric! We're also getting lots of use out of our candle stash. I'm trying to use all the same scent, so we don't have winterberry-cantelope-lime or something wacko like that. I keep thinking about "Heifer Hobbs," the Rebel cook in Rifles for Watie who can cook ANYTHING over a camp fire. ...or Sara, from Leif Enger's Peace Like a River, who grows up cooking amazing stuff in an dutch oven over a wood stove. For a girl whose greatest disappoinment in childhood was having no more American Fronteir, playing pioneer wife is about as good as it gets! So far we've had baked beans, skillet potatoes, omlettes, chicken-noodle-veggie soup (yum!), and most lately I'm stewing a pumpkin from our garden. I'm not sure what I'll do with it once it's cooked. :) Oh yes, and lots of peanut-butter on fruit!

Well, I have been vastly enjoying our book club book this month-- Hannah Coulter, by Wendell Berry (a Kentucky author). I highly reccomend it (at least so far), with lots of great quoteables, and lots of descriptions of lifestyles worthy of imitation. One quote ties in well to me playing pioneer wife...

"She was an old-fashioned housewife: determined and skillfull and saving and sparing. She worked hard, provided much, bought little, and saved everything that might be of use, buttons and buckles and rags and string and paper sacks from the store. She mended leaky pans, patched clothes and darned socks." (~Chapter 2)

And this is the homemaker I want to be!

"I had never known such prettiness as I found at Miss Ora's. Though she was not by any means a wealthy woman and was busy all the time herself, she had a wisdom that spread order and beauty around her. For me, Miss Ora's was a place of rest." (~Chapter 4)

All right, I've taken up enough of the Kings' computer time... we're still alive and doing well. Real well. :) There's something about enforced candlelight, and semi-dark houses that are even more fun when your best friend's around to share it with you!

rejoicing in the goodness of God,
--Christina

Without Power

Hey!

We survived Hurricane Ike... no, seriously! We had no idea, but Louisville was slated for HIGH winds yesterday. We walked out of church and were shocked to see leaves flying by, branches snapping everywhere, and whipping tree limbs...all under a beautiful clear blue sky. The weather continued to get wilder, with the sky staying blue! We had planned to have a family over for Sunday lunch- Dennis & Betsy & their two sweet children, Gabby & Nathan. I'd even made yummy spaghetti sauce with tomatoes from our garden, and oatmeal-raisin cookies! So we arrived at home, with the Andersons in tow... and realized we had no power. Forgetting that I could light the gas stove with candles even with the electric starter being out, we debated what we should do... Finally we lugged everything over to their house, in the hopes that THEY'd have power. Betsy laughed "it's like a progressive dinner, except we didn't get to eat anything yet!" The ride over to their apartment was rather wild, with most of the traffic lights on the way being out, and several roads being blocked by fallen trees. We were able to talk to the kids about God's power shown in the wind, and help them take comfort in His goodness. They were understandably a bit freaked out! In God's providence, though, our SSchool lesson had been on God's goodness, so it was easy to remind them of.

The Anderson's apartment complex entrance was blocked by a fallen tree, so after parking far enough so that no trees could crush our cars, we ran for it, somehow balencing cooking pots, children, and Betsy & I managing to stay modest with skirts on. Their power was on, and stayed long enough for us to boil the spaghetti noodles & heat the sauces. The garlic bread wasn't exactly toasted, but it was warm, so who cared? We ended up with a wonderful lunch, and had a great story "of that first time we ate together." They joked that they'd talked about wanting to have us over next time... and now they don't have to! Fun fellowship!

Our power is still off, meaning we'll probably go to bed with the sun tonight, and eat something I can cook over the stove. The forced simplicity is really fun! I got a lot of work done on school stuff, had time to journal and pray and was a lot less tempted to distraction at the computer. Even now I'm cramming in everything rather efficiently at the Shuey's house. School's been canceled for the WEEK!! Nice break for me. :) I'm probably going to try & help Sina with the kiddos so she isn't going crazy with all 4 of them home all day... maybe we'll go to the Science Museum (if they have power)!

Please pray for my Middle School Girls Bible Study, which will still start on Wednesday! I have 4 girls from the community coming, and hopefully more eventually. I'm really thankful and excited for the opportunity...and a bit nervous! Please pray for wisdom... and diligence in study.
Well, Ryan's here so I'm off!
Rejoicing in God's care for us.
--Christina

Hungary Pictures!!

So far I've uploaded the ones from Ryan's & my wanderings alone in Budapest (we were there 2 full days), and I'm getting the ones from our week in Szeged, where the conference was, slowly uploaded. Enjoy!
-Christina

Belated Anniversary Pics

Celebration Numero Uno

These are a few from when my Mom was here the week before our anniversary. We made zucchini-feta gratin (always a favorite), fresh rabanitos (radish salsa, family recipe!) w/ corn chips, and the piece de resistance, a Chardonnay sur Lies, from the Biltmore Estates, Mom's anniversary gift to us. We got a kick of drinking wine out of my old prom glasses. Whoda thunk they'd ever gotten any use out of them!? (good thing I remembered I even had them!)

p.s.- Here is a link to more pictures of my Mom's visit

Belated Anni Pics, Part 2

Celebration Numero Dos

(on August 18th, our actual anniversary)

Year One: Paper Anniversary

We also did a "road map" together of the highlights of our first year (that's the black line in the top of the blue card). I thought Ryan's card to me was so sweet... I loved it.


(Ryan giving me his "what am I supposed to do with these!?" face... right before we both cracked up and the pictures got too blurry to use)

This time the menu was homemade pizza, loaded with garden-fresh veggies (from ours, Mom's & our CSA farmer's) and chicken; raitas (Indian salad of tomato & cucumber in a yogurt sauce); the rest of the Chardonnay, and (drum roll, please).... our cake topper from our wedding! It was a gluten-free crustless cheesecake, and I must say that it froze and thawed very well. A little strawberries & sugar for a topping and WOW! No horrible dried out year old cake for these newlyweds! (Word to the wise: do a cheesecake topper- it freezes well!)

Ryan's gift from me was two tickets to the Louisville Science Center & IMAX theater-- we're trying to go with the whole paper theme. Our gift to ourselves was plane tickets to Hungary, including two nights on our own in a nicer hotel in Budapest.

Happy Birthday, Luke!!

My cousin Luke turned THREE today! Can you tell he LOVES getting presents?? I tell you, he's been plotting this day for the past year... no trouble with low self-esteem there!

Happy Birthday, Lukie, and I wish Ryan & I could be there to squeeze you! Your biggest cousin,

--Christina

"Train up a child in the Way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

Press on, Robin & Duncan!! You're doing a great job!

NOT M.I.A.

We made it back safely, and so far we think in good health. we both felt really ill after the long flight over the Atlantic. 23 hours of traveling, most of it in germ-fests (airports) or re-cirulating, dry-air compartments (airplanes) isn't so good on tired bodies.

Ryan & I spent WAY too much time in planes yesterday and felt so sick afterwards, but after walking around breathing real air and eating real food and drinking lots of water, I think we're better. Ryan seems to have some congestion from the plane, though... I'm dosing us up with Airborne and glyconutrients, as well as with vitamins. :) I forgot them all at home so hopefully it's not too late.

I am desperately praying that I do NOT get sick right off the bat. This school year is already hard enough without starting it off sick! God is faithful, and won't give us more than we can bear, and I trust in that. I must never forget that "casting ALL your cares on Him, because He cares for you" is part of being humble, of admitting that I can't control everything or figure out how to make it work out best. God has and is and will! Amen!!

So... pray for me! I have no idea what I'm teaching the choir kids tomorrow (5-8th grade BOYS, YIKES!), though I've been thinking about it all week... Hopefully something surfaces. :) I've been in such another world for the past week; another continent, another culture, another set of foci and goals. I just can't believe I start teaching tomorrow; the summer is OVER. On the bright side, pre-k is already well-prepared, and I can't wait to meet these new little ones!

*sigh* I'd better go... I'll spend lots of time chronicling our trip in words and pictures, I'm sure.
--Christina

On Teaching Children About God's Holiness

Have you ever had to think about this? Being a preschool teacher and curriculum developer, it's something I DO think about... a lot. It's hard to know what they can understand, what is beyond them but good to start teaching anyway, and what is unbalanced. One especially touchy issue (in our culture anyway) is that of the holiness of God, and how that interacts with us. The plain ol' fact is that it means we are doomed! To some, this seems too harsh or frightening to teach to children. But, if it's in the Bible and if it's necessary to salvation, it must not be kept from a child! Yes...it is frightening. But if we do not first know our own damnation, we will never be desperate for salvation. And it is only the self-admitted "sick" who get the Doctor. (Mark 2:17)

One word picture is that of a fire. God is holy and perfect, and anything less than holy and perfect is incinerated in His presence. I know many people immediately assume "hellfire and brimstone!" with this word picture, but that's not primarily what I mean. Feel free to tell me what you think of the following:

YHWH is a consuming fire, as Hebrews (12:29) emphasizes, and those who have sin inherent in their being will be consumed by that Glory, by that holiness. Adam & Eve were sent away from the Garden as punishment (Gen 3:22) and because now they faced the possibility of eternal corruption, but later we see that it was in mercy, too. Had they stayed in God's presence in their sinful state, they would have been utterly consumed. They passed on this inability to face God uncovered to all humans (Ex. 33:20). That's a crucial part of why why Moses had to function as a mediator for the people of Israel (Dt. 5:24-25), why the sacrificial system was instituted-- the sacrifices were literally "burnt up" so that the people didn't have to be.

Knowing all this about Who God Is really prepares us to marvel at the Incarnation; that God would put on flesh SO THAT we could see His glory without being consumed (2 Cor 4:6). I'm not advocating trying to push Hellish images on our little ones, but rather to give them the same word pictures that the Bible uses for God; including that of a fire. Only when we are in Jesus are we like the Burning Bush: on fire but not consumed. Certainly I don't want to over-emphasize any one attribute of God (His holiness) at the expense of another (for example, His mercy...which interestingly enough is the attribute He called out as He covered Moses with His Hand)... but we also want to give a real enough picture, according to Scripture, to instill in our children a "holy fear of God." Then calling Him "Abba," and knowing that HE made promises to US to make a way for us to be NEAR Him again is so much more marvelous and incredible!! That's the message I start teaching in week 3 with the promise God made to Eve (Gen. 3:16), and which we keep teaching until the last day of school, with the possibility of being like Jesus.

To make it a little more personal,it was fear of my own sinfulness in the face of God's holiness which first awakened my three-year-old soul to my need for a Mediator, and which finally led me to Christ. It wasn't until I was 9 or so and God opened my eyes more fully to my main sin of pride that I actually ran to Him for Grace, but all along that holy fear kept me from a lot of sin, and kept me knowing I needed Jesus.

The truth is that children CAN come to Jesus. Likely, they know deep down inside that they do need salvation; a sense of guilt seems quite natural, a merciful product of our Image-bearing. They still need to be taught, to be given the knowledge that will lead them to Jesus. We are commanded not to hinder them-- oh let us urge them to run!!

I hope this is good for thought-fodder... it has helped me better love my Savior!
By His Mercy,
--Christina

Prayer for Today

Lifted straight from my friend Chandler's blog:

"If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned or unprayed for." Charles Spurgeon


May we be a people who is ever warning and ever praying.

Why I Try to Understand Drupalese

After wandering around all day and taking rather too long of a snooze, shall I say I did manage to catch back up with him, Lyle, Mike (from Michegan, who went to Ubercamp with us, a couple weeks back) & two other Drupalcon attendees, ...hehehe... after some confusion, at a local pizzeria off of the pedestrian-only street downtown. We really enjoyed dinner with them-- Alex is from the Czech Republic, and Boris from Slovakia. Then it was off to Port Royal, the bar where the "Welcome DrupalCon Party" had been arranged. All conference attendees were given "Free Drink" passes; I thought I'd miss out, but as the drink was some champagne-fruit syrup concoction that looked rather pretty, several of the guys in my proximity deemed them "too girly" for their liking. Not being one to waste anything, I was glad to take the tickets off their hands. :) They were yummy!!

Ok, in case you're wondering if the free cocktails are why I try to understand Ryan's shop-talk, know that it is NOT. (I could get those quite fine without talking geek, heheh) It was fun mingling with people from Ryan's geek-world. They're smart, passionate, and international. This particular community is built on open-source, which means they don't make money on the actual code they write; it's all free for anyone to copy or download. That makes them very open, collaborative and teachable. There isn't a lot of professional arrogance or back-stabbing. NICE. But no, the people aren't the why, either.

It ain't the fame, neither. I'm very proud to be "Mrs. Ubercart," for sure. Ryan's rock-star status could be rather ego-boosting for me, too! I guess it's that I want to learn my part well. "Wives, submit to your OWN husbands" means that I need to know my husband and his needs well (Eph. 5:22). I don't need to be the perfect help-meet for anyone else; I don't need to fight alongside anyone else like I do him. He is my own husband. My long-haired, php-coding, Drupal-loving, Ubercart-inventing husband. So if this is his world, it's mine, too. Not that I feel the need to learn everything about every interest or talent he has. Frankly, computer coding doesn't appeal that much to me, and at this point is rather beyond my reach. But I can learn enough to be a good listener and advisor. I can share experiences and meet people. Besides, being with him is always more fun than being without him!
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So... it's late and I need to wrap this up. My afore-mentioned husband is snoozing beside me for a change- usually he's the night owl! Tomorrow?

Well, we just got back from hanging out with a lot of other conference attenders. Lots of non-believers to interact with.... though I enjoyed my day alone tomorrow and was looking forward to more "personal time" this week, I think I'll get together with some other non-Drupaler wives here tomorrow. This is one of our spheres of influence, where Christ's Name is not exalted by everyone. May He use us to change that! Besides... you never know where kindred spirits may be waiting. :) I think we womem may be going to the Salami and Paprika Museum (2 specialties of Szeged), the super-cool town water tower, Protestant church, and maybe the big ol' catholic church here...it's one of "the seven architectural wonders" of Hungary, for whatever that's worth.

Lord willing, I'll report on all said activities later! Please pray for me. I am not naturally a loving gracious person. Pray that I will genuinely love these neighbors better than I love myself. Pray for Ryan, too, that he will boldly proclaim the Name as he is able.

--Mrs. Ubercart

(we are imitating the Ubercart logo, if you were wondering)