Psalm Sunday: Psalm 51

Posted on October 30, 2007 by Barbara Harper

My apologies for being late this week — we had out-of-town company over the last several days.

1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.

15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

I am not going to outline this Psalm as it is pretty clear. I just want to pull a few thoughts from it.

This Psalm reminds me of the marks of godly sorrow and true repentance described in II Corinthians 7:9-11. There is no casual “Forgive me if I have done anything wrong” here.

David appeals to God’s lovingkindness here, and that is our hope and appeal as well. I am so glad God loves us in spite of our bent to sinning and created a way though Christ wherein we can have all our sins forgiven.

Though Israel was commanded to offer certain sacrifices at that time as a picture of the coming Christ’s redemptive work for us, just going through the motions was all for naught if there was not a broken and a contrite heart over sin (vv 16-17). God desires truth in the inward part of us (v. 6).

David acknowledges that, though his sin did affect other people, ultimately his sin was primarily against God (v. 4).

Thank God for His cleansing. I have prayed v. 10 many a time.

Then after there is acknowledgment, confession, repentance, and cleansing — then the joy is restored (vv. 8, 13).

See Butterfly Kisses for more Psalm Sunday meditations.

Fall Y’all Giveaway

Posted on October 29, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Comments are now closed and I am about to draw a winner….

If you haven’t heard yet about Shannon’s Fall Y’all giveaway extravaganza, the guidelines are here, and the list of participants is here.

One of my most favorite things to do is read, and I spend a number of posts talking about good books I’ve found, so I wanted books to be a part of my giveaway.

I also spend a lot of time talking about the importance of the Word of God, so my first giveaway is a devotional book called Daily Light on the Daily Path. It is made up entirely of Scripture, compiled by the Samuel Bagster family. I don’t know how many times my reading for the day has given me just what I needed for the time.

The other books I want to give away as a set: The Secret Life of Becky Miller and Renovating Becky Miller by Sharon Hinck. I reviewed them earlier here and here. I know a lot of “Mom bloggers” participate in this giveaway, and Becky Miller is a young mom who wants to do “big things for God” but finds out life doesn’t always go the way she dreams it will. There are some hilarious moments as well as sweet and poignant moments. You don’t have to be a mom to get the spiritual lessons in the books, though.

Leave a comment on this post and let me know if you are interested in either the devotional book or the Becky Miller set or both. I will close comments Friday night at midnight EST and use the random number generator to draw two winners on Saturday morning. This contest is open to anyone anywhere. One comment per person, please. You don’t have to have a blog to enter, but if you don’t just be sure to leave your e-mail address so I have a way to notify you if you’ve won.

I am also going to try to have another crafty give-away in a couple of days if I can get it together — it’s shaping up to be another busy week! But if I do I will post another link to the Fall Y’all giveaway page.

P.S.: Here is a works-for-me tip for keeping up with the giveaways I’ve entered. I started an e-mail to myself (though it could also be done via a Word document — I just used my e-mail because it’s always open when I am online and it’s handy) and listed the item and the address of the contest, then saved it in the “Mail waiting to be sent” folder. It’s easy to open back up when I go back to checking more giveaway posts. I think most of those offering a giveaway notify the winner, but some don’t, so this way I can run back through the list when this week is over and check the winners’ names.

In Tenderness He Sought Me

Posted on October 27, 2007 by Barbara Harper

In tenderness He sought me,
Weary and sick with sin;
And on His shoulders brought me
Back to His fold again.
While angels in His presence sang
Until the courts of Heaven rang.

Refrain:

Oh, the love that sought me!
Oh, the blood that bought me!
Oh, the grace that brought me to the fold,
Wondrous grace that brought me to the fold.

He washed the bleeding sin wounds,
And poured in oil and wine;
He whispered to assure me,
“I’ve found thee, thou art Mine”;
I never heard a sweeter voice;
It made my aching heart rejoice!

Refrain

He pointed to the nail prints,
For me His blood was shed,
A mocking crown so thorny
Was placed upon His head;
I wondered what He saw in me,
To suffer such deep agony.

Refrain

I’m sitting in His presence,
The sunshine of His face,
While with adoring wonder
His blessings I retrace.
It seems as if eternal days
Are far too short to sound His praise.

Refrain

So while the hours are passing,
All now is perfect rest,
I’m waiting for the morning,
The brightest and the best,
When He will call us to His side,
To be with Him, His spotless bride.

Refrain

— W. Spencer Walton

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt: Pink

Posted on October 26, 2007 by Barbara Harper

PhotoHunt

Theme: Pink | Become a Photo Hunter | View Blogroll

I’ve hated missing the last couple of weeks’ photo hunts. I just couldn’t come up with anything interesting and was crunched for time. But anyone who has read my blog for very long will know that I can’t pass up the pink theme! I’ve posted before some pictures of my collections of (mostly) pink hearts and things with pink roses on them. Here are a few of my favorites:

Bloggy Happenings

Posted on October 25, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Via Barb this morning I learned of two neat bloggy happenings.

New to me (but I’ll be going back to visit!) Molly-Coddled is giving away a Taste Of Homes cookbook and a one-year subscription to any Reiman Publications magazine listed here. How cool is that?! I love Taste of Homes and its spinoffs — they are always tasty recipes and usually fairly easy to make because they are tried and true recipes from real cooks in their homes. Details about the contest are here. The deadline is 9 p.m. Friday night, so time is short.

Then another new-to-me blogger, Kathleen Marie at The Open Window, is holding a Christmas Ornament Exchange. The name-drawing will be November 16. Details are here. This looks like fun — I’ll have to think about what I could do for it.

Gibee at Kisses of Sunshine is hosting a Homemade With Love Holiday Gift Idea Exchange — think of a gift that you could make for the holidays, make up a sample, post a picture and instructions, then link to Gibee’s on November 12. I am looking forward to seeing a lot of great ideas!

I’m off to clean — company’s coming tomorrow!

In honor of my dentist’s visit today…

Posted on October 23, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Tim Conway was a master comedian, and it was always fun to watch others in a sketch with him try not to crack up.

Time Travel Tuesday: Accidents or illness

Posted on October 23, 2007 by Barbara Harper

My Life as Annie’s weekly Time Travel Tuesday question for today is:

What’s the most serious accident or illness you have ever had?

When my oldest son was about nine months old, I had to have gallbladder surgery; when my second son was two years old, I had to have half my thyroid gland removed due to a marble-sized (and thankfully benign) nodule. So when my third son was born, my doctor joked, “What body part would you like for me to remove now?” I assured him I’d like to keep the rest. But when Jesse was almost two, one morning I was going about my normal routine when my left hand started to feel a little funny, like I had slept on it wrong. I kept shaking and flexing it while making my husband’s lunch for him to take with him to work, but the numbish feeling was increasing and climbing up my arm. Then the same sensation began in my feet and climbed up my legs. Within a few hours I could not walk on my own and was having trouble using the restroom. One eyelid began to droop. I thought I was having a stroke. A trip to two ERs on the longest day of my life, eight days of hospitalization, and multitudes of all sorts of tests later (told in more detail here), the diagnosis came back: transverse myelitis.

My first reaction was, “What?! Who has ever heard of that?”

Thankfully my doctor had. I learned much later that this can often be missed or misdiagnosed. Teens who get it, in particular, are often accused of it all being “in their head.” The problem is that there is not one definitive test for it. They have to test for and rule out multiple sclerosis, lupus, Guillain-Barre syndrome and multitudes of other ailments before making the diagnosis.

Transverse myelitis basically involves a virus making its way to your spine. It can often occur after a viral illness or a vaccination, though in my case and many others it comes seemingly out of nowhere. There are some similarities of symptoms but there are some differences depending on where along the spine it hits. The higher up the inflammation, the worse the damage. Some people recover completely or very nearly completely, some don’t recover much at all, and many of us have some recovery with some long lasting nerve damage. The last scenario is my situation.

I had a three-day course of iv steroids in the hospital and then began three months of physical therapy at home. Gradually I began to walk with a walker, then a cane, then somewhat unsteadily on my own. The first two weeks were exhausting: cleaning up with a little “sponge bath” in the hospital and sitting up in the chair for the nurses to change my bed sheets left me drenched with sweat and crawling back into bed to sleep for hours. Gradually energy levels improved, but I still don’t have a lot of stamina. My balance is still sometimes a problem, more so when I am standing still than when I am walking (my physical therapist gave me a name for that, but I can’t remember what it was). My right leg doesn’t feel pain or cold; my left hand has a delayed reaction to pain. There are still numbish feelings (not totally asleep and without feeling, but not normal sensation) in both legs and my left arm — thankfully my right arm was never affected. I get muscle spasms in my back and wear an Icy Hot or Absorpine Jr. pain patch almost daily. There are still a few “bathroom issues,” but I’ll spare you the details. 🙂 It’s much better than it was, however.

But I am thankful it was no worse and that I recovered enough to basically be able to function as a wife and mom. I am thankful for the prayers and support and practical help of friends and church members. I am thankful that God is “our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1). I am thankful for God’s Word and the strength it imparts and the promises it gives, such as in II Corinthians 12:8-10:

8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

One of my reasons for starting a blog was to be a help to others with TM, and my “pages” in the upper right-hand corner list several more posts concerning dealing with TM.

The other part of Annie’s question had to do with accidents. Thankfully I’ve never had a serious one, but the only one in which I was in the car (one other occurred when I accidentally left the car in Drive at the top of a hill while I got something from it to return to a friend, but it rolled down and hit a tree with no occupants) occurred in college when Jim and I were engaged and I was driving his car with a bunch of girls home to the dorms from church. An oncoming car swerved into my lane, hit me, and then swerved back into his lane and went on, never stopping. The car was totaled, but no one was hurt, thankfully. And, thankfully, a faculty couple was behind us and saw the whole thing and was able to give a statement to the police and help us get back to school. And my fiance was in a car with a bunch of guys coming home from church also: they normally didn’t take the street we were on, but did that night and came upon the accident, so he was able to give the police the car registration and insurance information. So, though it shook us all up at the time, it was relatively minor, as accidents go, and we were able to get that first “Honey, I put a dent in the car…” hurdle out of the way before we got married. 🙂

Busy week

Posted on October 22, 2007 by Barbara Harper

This is shaping up to be a busy week.

Every year around this time our church has a “missionary Christmas” endeavor. We e-mail the missionaries our church supports in late July or August to ask for “wish list” ideas and then have folks at church sign up for items they’d like to buy to contribute. Then at our October meeting we wrap them. Then I get to package and address them and fill out the customs forms.

I’m working on getting as many of these out as soon as possible. It will be interesting this year as the post office has done away with what used to be called “surface rate” (as I once heard it, that which ships by boat, train, or llama). So the packages should arrive more quickly, but will also be more expensive. I consulted with our pastor about whether we should do anything differently in light of that, but he said just to do everything like we have always done it, and we’ll see how it goes, then we’ll reevaluate for next year. This is a joy to do, and is such a blessing for them, so we’d love to keep doing it. It’s hard sometime to balance being generous with the expensive reality of shipping, but so far the Lord has blessed.

I’d love to hear how your church ministers to your missionaries. Besides their regular support, of course, we also have a missions closet that we take them through when they are in the States for furlough. We have a mission’s display with their pictures and copies of their most recent prayer letter. New prayer letters are usually at least mentioned and often quoted from during Wed. night prayer meetings, and we glean some of the prayer requests and put them into our ladies’ ministry newsletter. I like trying to keep them before the folks so that they are familiar with them and so that they’re not just encountering them once every four years when they are home on furlough. We have a missions conference every fall, and usually at least one of our missionaries that we support speaks at that as well as some others.

I also have another dental appointment tomorrow. The same tooth on the opposite side of the one I just had extracted and a bridge made for is having the same trouble, but I am hoping this one can get by with just a crown. If I can persuade anyone, please don’t do what I did and let the dread of going to the dentist keep you away. It causes so many more problems (and is much more expensive! Yikes!!) than getting those regular cleanings and small fillings taken care of.

When someone called me to help with a meal for an expectant mom on bedrest this week, I agreed, thinking my dental appointment was on Wednesday — but I just checked this morning, and the appointment is on Tuesday, the same day I am supposed to make the meal. Though I’d rather have those things occur on different days, I think the timing will work out ok. I know what a blessing it is to receive meals when Mom is out of commission – -we’ve been on the receiving end many times — but I always struggle with what to make. I have a couple of cookie recipes that regularly turn out fine, but my main meal skills are a little iffy, at least for the kind of meals you want to take in a situation like that. The other lady helping wants to make macaroni and cheese as a side dish because that’s her best thing, so I am thinking of roasting a ham. Can’t go too wrong with that…let’s hope, anyway. The other lady is also doing some kind of bread or rolls, and I’ll get a little bagged salad and make cookies. I’m sorely tempted to get some ready made sugar cookie dough and use those little autumn mini cookie cutters I mentioned earlier and sprinkling them with fall-colored sugars. There are two little children in the house who might like those. I also thought about a peanut butter and Hershey’s kiss cookie my son’s girlfriend made this week with just peanut butter, sugar, and an egg — so simple but so good! I don’t often make peanut butter stuff for a meal for others since so many kids have peanut allergies, but that wasn’t on the list of things they couldn’t eat, so it might be ok.

Somewhere along the way I got the idea (not from my mom, I know) that any food you do for company or a church potluck or a meal for others should be totally from scratch with nothing store bought and ready-made. That’s still my ideal, and I do think it shows a level of care put into it. But sometimes it’s a matter of pride.

Then, my step-father and two sisters are coming to visit from Texas at the end of this week, and my other two sisters who live about 30-45 minutes away will be over some as well. It’s awful that I don’t see the two nearby sisters much at all except when the rest of the family comes — our schedules and days off just don’t mesh. But I’m saving most of the cleaning til later this week in preparation for their coming. Normally when company’s coming I’m inspired to get a lot of house projects done, but they’ve seen my house “as is” before and I just don’t have the time and energy, so I think I’ll stick with basic cleaning and just enjoy the visit. I did finally get the fabric for curtains I need to make for the family room and got it all dry-cleaned and ready to sew:

Where I am “stuck” with that project is trying to decide what kind of trim to use on the valance or whether to make them without it. I’ve checked in all the places nearby for trim and just haven’t ~~had~~ made the time to look in the next towns. I could go ahead and maybe get the main curtains up, though — they shouldn’t take too long to whip up. We’ll see.

But I guess I should push away from the computer now and get busy, huh?

Psalm Sunday: Psalm 50

Posted on October 22, 2007 by Barbara Harper

1 The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.

2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.

3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.

4 He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.

5 Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.

6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.

7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.

8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.

9 I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.

10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.

13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?

14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:

15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

16 But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?

17 Seeing thou hatest instruction, and casteth my words behind thee.

18 When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.

19 Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.

20 Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son.

21 These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.

22 Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.

23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.

I like to read the Psalm for the day several times on my own first and sort out my thoughts and impressions of what I think it is teaching before checking myself against someone else, usually C. H. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David. Spurgeon summed up the divisions of this Psalm nicely in this paragraph: “The Lord is represented as summoning the whole earth to hear his declaration, Ps 50:1-6; he then declares the nature of the worship which he accepts, Ps 50:7-15, accuses the ungodly of breaches of the precepts of the second table, Ps 50:16-21, and closes the court with a word of threatening, Ps 50:22, and a direction of grace, Ps 50:23.” For an expert study of this Psalm, see the rest of Spurgeon’s commentary on it here: in fact, I wonder what in the world I am doing saying anything about this Psalm when so many others have done a much better job thatn I ever could! But it is an exercise in studying the passage for me, and I do get a lot from it in thinking through it this way.

I won’t go over it verse by verse or section by section this time, but here are just a few thoughts.

— Sometimes these days people forget this view of God as the righteous Judge. He is merciful and gracious, longsuffering and ready to forgive. But as the Creator and as God alone, He has the right to “make the rules,” so to speak, and to deal with those who won’t come to Him for forgiveness for not following His way. Even His warnings may be seen as merciful because they are designed to lead people to repentance before it is too late.

— Like Israel, we can sometimes forget to do what’s required of us or do it in a way that is just “going through the motions” without any heart behind it. God doesn’t “need” our service any more than He “needed” Israel’s sacrifices, but He requires the service out of a right heart of gratitude. I like what Spurgeon said about this:

No longer look at your sacrifices as in themselves gifts pleasing to me, but present them as the tributes of your gratitude; it is then that I will accept them, but not while your poor souls have no love and no thankfulness to offer me. The sacrifices, as considered in themselves, are contemned, but the internal emotions of love consequent upon a remembrance of divine goodness, are commended as the substance, meaning, and soul of sacrifice. Even when the legal ceremonials were not abolished, this was true, and when they came to an end, this truth was more than ever made manifest. Not for want of bullocks on the altar was Israel blamed, but for want of thankful adoration before the Lord. She excelled in the visible, but in the inward grace, which is the one thing needful, she sadly failed. Too many in these days are in the same condemnation.

— Verse 15 is often quoted by itself, “And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me,” but it is a continuation of the sentence in verse 14: “Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.”

— Verse 21: “These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.” Sometimes we mistake God’s mercy and longsuffering for indulgence. When we do wrong and there are no immediate consequences, we think He hasn’t seen, or if He has, like a kindly grandfather in the sky He will pat us on the head and overlook our wrongdoing. But forgiveness is not the same thing as overlooking sin: forgiveness involves facing up to wrongdoing and repenting of it.

— On the first part of verse 23, “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me,” Spurgeon says,

Thanksgiving is a God exalting work. Though nothing can add the least cubit to God’s essential glory, yet praise exalts him in the eyes of others. Praise is a setting forth of God’s honour, a lifting up of his name, a displaying the trophy of his goodness, a proclaiming his excellency, a spreading his renown, a breaking open the box of ointment, whereby the sweet savour and perfume of God’s name is sent abroad into the world.

— The last part of verse 23 can be a little confusing: “to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.” It makes it sound like we’re saved after we correct our actions, but many other verses say that we’re saved by God’s grace, and then with His power and out of gratitude we get things right in our lives. The word “salvation” in the Bible, though, doesn’t always mean deliverance from the penalty and power of our sins: sometimes it means rescue from trouble. Since the first part of this verse seems to be addressed to believers (“whose offereth praise…”) perhaps the meaning of this second part of the verse is similar to Psalm 66:18: “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” A believer can’t expect God to hear and answer prayer if he is walking around with known and unconfessed sin in his life. But once we have confessed that sin to God, we have the confidence that He will answer prayer. Verse 22 is a call to those who “forget God” to heed His warning and repent; verse 23 seems to be a reminder to God’s people that He wants true heart worship, right motives behind a right life, not just a lifeless outer obedience. If you have another “take” on this verse, let me know.

Our Psalms Sunday hostess, Erica at Butterfly Kisses, does not yet have the link up for this weeks Psalm Sunday, but she probably will one day this week. I usually wait until she does so to post my Psalms Sunday thoughts, but I wanted to do it as close to Sunday as possible, even though I am a day late already.

Book Review: The Parting

Posted on October 20, 2007 by Barbara Harper

The Parting is Beverly Lewis’s newest release and the first book in a new series called “The Courtship of Nellie Fisher.” I enjoy Beverly Lewis’s books about the Amish, based on her grandmother’s Amish heritage, a people so industrious they put me to shame, generally gentle, yet at their harshest when someone wants to step outside their traditions.

This book has many of the same elements as Lewis’s others: focus on an Amish family and their ways and interactions, one member with hidden secrets, young people going through the rituals of courtship, descriptions of wonderful-gut food making which leaves your mouth watering, the dangers of being shunned, and someone who begins to discover that the way of salvation is not in the keeping of man-made traditions. Yet with all the similarities, each book has its uniqueness.

Nellie is a young Amish woman living at home who has not yet “joined church.” She has been secretly interested in a young man named Caleb. There is some question of the reputation of Nellie’s younger sister, Suzy, who has died in a drowning accident while out with non-Amish people, but once Caleb assures himself that whatever happened is not enough to taint the family (and cause his father’s disapproval), he makes his interest known to Nellie.

Nellie’s father, after visiting with a relative who has embraced a different belief system and who shares the Word of God with him, begins to read from portions of Scripture which are not encouraged by the brethren. His heart is overjoyed when his eyes are opened to the gospel of John and the realization that salvation is a free gift and that he can know for sure he belongs to the Lord. He begins to share his newfound knowledge and joy with his family, but Nellie is afraid this is a far bigger threat to her courtship than Suzy’s reputation, for those who profess to know they are saved are shunned and put out of Amish fellowship.

In many of the previous books, the father is the one most rooted in tradition and last to even be open to the idea of change, so it was a delight to me this time to see the father taking the lead. His joy was a rebuke to me: those of us who have known the way of salvation for years can too easily take it for granted. And the courage he and others display when they must follow the way of truth in spite of what it might mean, and the gentle and gracious way he tries to handle sharing that truth and the accompanying reactions are inspiring.

It is heartbreaking when any system denies and squelches the truth and ensnares its people in the darkness of man-made traditions and rituals. I’ve wondered what made the original Amish choose only certain portions of God’s Word and leave out the rest. When I wrote a post earlier this week about our righteousness being based on Christ’s, I had not only just read verses on the subject that morning, but I was also in the midst of reading this book and watching The Last Sin-Eater DVD about another time and place and another system of tradition that keeps its people in darkness. Would that all people would have a chance to at least hear the truth and make their own decisions.