Friday’s Fave Five

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Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of our favorite things from the last week, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

It’s been something of a mixed week, but here are some of the high points of it:

1. A new disk drive. My computer has been putting up little warning notices about not having enough disk space, and I’ve been deleting old files and photos I no longer need, but with continually adding photos and new stuff, I needed more space. Jeremy (oldest son who lives out of state) got me an new bigger disk drive for my birthday, but there hadn’t been time to install it til last weekend. Jim was on the phone with Jeremy through the process, and at one point the computer died completely. Jim had to replace a part (I forget its name, but it looked like a metal box with bunches of wires coming out of it), but finally it all came together, everything is working great, and I can breathe easier.

2. The TN Valley State Fair made for a nice family outing. I don’t think I enjoyed it quite as much as last year — maybe it was due to the newness of it last year, and/or the fact that it was cooler and less crowded then. But it was still a fun time, and the thing I most looked forward to was sharing a funnel cake with Jim. There is a local restaurant that sells them, but they are just not the same outside of a fair context.

3. Antibiotics and early detection. Wednesday morning I discovered a 2 1/2″ patch of redness on one foot, the one where I have had cellulitis a few times before. It looked like it might be that again. Last time I wasn’t sure, hemmed and hawed and waited til we finally ended up having to go to the ER near midnight. I didn’t want to repeat that process, so I went in to the doctor’s office to see about it that afternoon. My doctor was away, but the nurse practitioner prescribed antibiotics, told me to keep my foot elevated, and gave me instructions to come back if it got worse. It was worse that night, but then much better the next morning, and the redness is mostly gone now, whereas last time I was out of commission most of the week. So going in early, even if I am not sure, is much better than waiting on this type of thing.

4. Ebay finds. I’m not much of an Ebay shopper. If I looked around there much I’d be too tempted to buy things. But I found some Pfaltzgraff Tea Roses glasses that match mine that were no longer available on the Pfaltzgraff site (they have a newer design that’s fussier that I don’t like), and I also found some napkins to match my dishes.

5. A new printer. Ours has been having assorted problems for some time now. Jim just got a new one last night and hasn’t had a chance to install it yet, but I am excited about it, especially that it has a wireless feature so we can print directly from iPhones or tablets.

More “everyday” blessings come to mind — good books, comfy bed, climate control, time with family, technology, Facetiming with Jeremy, and many more. The everyday “manna” is no less special than the bigger events of the week, and when I stop to really think of it, I have so much to be thankful for, so many more good things than bad things, and even the assurance that God has a purpose in the “bad” things, that I really should be happy and positive and upbeat and thankful all the time. 🙂

“Transformed Into His Likeness”

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“Transformed Into His Likeness” is the sixth chapter in the book The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges, which we’re discussing every Thursday in the “Reading Classics Together” challenge at Challies‘ place.

When believers are first saved, the penalty for their sin is lifted, having been borne by Christ on the Christ, and His righteousness is put to their account. Yet they still have what the Bible calls their old nature or “old man” within them. Sanctification is the word for the process whereby Christians are gradually transformed from looking and acting like the “old man” to looking and acting more like Christ. It happens in fact at salvation, it happens progressively through life, and it culminates in our perfection when we get to heaven. Or, as Bridges explains it:

Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit in us whereby our inner being is progressively changed, freeing us more and more from sinful traits and developing within us over time the virtues of Christlike character. However, though sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit in us, it does involve our wholehearted obedience and the regular use of spiritual disciplines that are instruments of sanctification (p. 96).

It is “the carrying out of regeneration to its intended end” (p. 99).

You don’t hear this so much these days, but there used to be people who thought that their entire old nature was removed or changed when they became Christians and they could no longer sin. I don’t know how they missed the remaining sinful tendencies in their own hearts or the verses in the Bible that speak of our growth and change.

Today we have more of the opposite problem: people who say they have been regenerated (saved), yet do not display any evidence of a new life or any growth spiritually. Bridges says, “The solution for these people is not to change their conduct so that they might see some evidences of regeneration. The solution is to come to Jesus, renouncing any confidence in their own goodness, confessing themselves to be sinners in the sight of God, and trusting entirely in His atoning work” (p. 98).

After one becomes a Christian, the goal of our transformation is to become more like Christ. “To be like Jesus…is to always seek to do the will of the Father…Not only did Jesus do the will of the Father, not only was that His whole goal in life, but Psalm 40:8 tells us He delighted to do the will of the Father…What is our aim? Is it to please the Father in all we do, or is it just to get through life as comfortably as we can? (p. 102).

But it is not just in our actions and goals that we’re transformed into Jesus’ likeness, but in our character.

This process involves the Holy Spirit’s leading and enabling and our obedience and cooperation.

Our part, that is, our response to the Holy Spirit’s work and our cooperation with Him in His work is the pursuit of holiness…the pursuit of holiness, though requiring diligent effort on our part, is dependent on the enabling power of the Holy Spirit…It is difficult to grasp this principle of being responsible yet dependent. But it is absolutely vital that we grasp and live by it” (p. 100).

In my circles, the idea of progressive sanctification is taught often, but the emphasis tends to be more on our responsibility.  It wasn’t an entirely new thought that Holy Spirit was the agent, the enabler, the One ultimately responsible for our transformation, but I had never heard this truth brought out as thoroughly as Bridges does it, and that was a great blessing to me. Among his comments on this aspect:

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3:18 that we are being transformed by “the Lord, who is the Spirit.” The verb being transformed is passive, that is, something being done to us, not by us. This does not mean we have no responsibility in sanctification. It means that in the final analysis it is the Spirit of God who transforms us. He calls on us to cooperate and do the part He assigns us to do, but He is the one who works deep within our character to change us (p. 106).

Several passages of Scripture emphasize the fact that sanctification is primarily the work of the Holy Spirit. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 Paul said, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.”…

Again, Paul wrote in Philippians 1:6, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”(p. 107).

Finally, the writer of Hebrews prayed that God will “work in us what is pleasing to Him” (Hebrews 13:21) (p. 107).

Yet:

The Spirit of God has indeed given us certain responsibilities in the sanctifying process. In fact, the Bible is filled with exhortations, challenges, and commands to obey, as well as spiritual disciplines to be practiced (p. 107).

I’ve often wondered what exactly is our part and what is His, where does one end and one begin, how does it all work together. Bridges says this is a mystery. It is never quite thoroughly explained in Scripture. But as we do our part, we trust Him for His enabling and transforming.

Bridges then goes on to discuss the various means that the Holy Spirit uses in our sanctification: adversities, exhortations and encouragement from others, Scripture, and prayer. But perhaps the most significant means is found in 2 Corinthians 3:18: “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.” “The glory of the Lord denotes the presence of God and all that He is in all of His attributes — His infiniteness, eternalness, holiness, sovereignty, goodness, and so on…God is glorious in all of His being and all of His works” (p. 109). The more we seek Him and gaze on Him in Scripture, the more we are transformed into His likeness.

More discussion on this chapter can be found here. My discussions of previous chapters are here.

Book Review: Rare Earth

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Rare Earth by Davis Bunn is the sequel to The Lion of Babylon (linked to my review), but it could easily be read as a stand-alone book.

A former operative for State department, Marc Royce drops into the middle of a crisis in Africa under cover as the employee of Lodestone, a for-profit U. S. company contracted to bring in emergency supplies. A volcano near the border between Kenya and Uganda has erupted onto land “already devastated by drought, famine, and civil war.”

It’s just a bit confusing at first because as readers we don’t know what Marc’s real mission is, why people react negatively to him at first, and what the reasons are for the tensions among different people. But we trust all will come to light soon, and we are rewarded.

And since “rare earth” is in the title and the back-of-the-book description, it is not a spoiler to say that the minerals called by that name are the prize for which someone has been exploiting the area. An aide is missing, many villagers have been forced from their land, and something seems fishy within Lodestone. But discerning what is actually going on, whom to trust, and how to help the situation are reasons Marc has been called in.

This book is well written, the characters are fully rounded, the story is suspenseful, and an area unfamiliar to most is well-described. For those who are familiar with the TV program 24, Marc is much like what I imagine Jack Bauer would be if he was a Christian. 🙂 The latter part of the book is a bit heavy on the hero accolades for me, but otherwise it was an engaging read.

For those who like book trailers, here is the one for Rare Earth:

(This review will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

Remembering 9/11

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I’ve shared my memories of 9/11 a few times before. I don’t know if anyone else feels this way, but the further we get from 9/11/01, the less I know how I am supposed to feel. Of course, there is no one right way to feel. But as I was thinking of enjoyable plans for later in the day, I almost felt a little guilty when I remembered what day this was.

No one can say for sure, but I don’t think the people who died that day would resent people enjoying themselves on future anniversaries of that date. At least, if it were me, I don’t think I would…as long as people don’t completely forget.

I watched some of the coverage this morning. Those clips from that day reminded me how stunned I was. The first plane crashing was bad enough. But then it seemed we were hit by wave after wave: a second plane flying into the other tower, the horror of people jumping out of the windows, of the towers collapsing, a third plane crashing into the Pentagon, a fourth in PA. Then the next several days as more details and stories came to light, there was horror and sorrow but also inspiration. I don’t ever want to forget that. As I watched part of the ceremony this morning in which the names were read of the people who had died that day, each section was finished with a family member saying a few words to or about their own loved one who had died. It brought back again that these were real people with real families left behind with real gaping holes in their lives and hearts.

But as long as we don’t forget those people who died and their loved ones left here, I think perhaps they would be glad that people can enjoy themselves here and now, that 9/11 did not usher in an era of terrorism on our soil like many feared it would.

Then again, this morning I was reading of Christians meeting underground and suffering persecution in a country where the gospel cannot be shared freely without severe consequences. The writer shared Hebrews 13:3: “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.” There are so many places where terrorism and a lack of freedom is the norm. We must remember them.

Last year a student from my alma mater made this film about his father, who was originally slated to pilot the first flight.

One of the things that stood out to me was his wife saying, “You don’t know what is going to happen Sept. 11 when you’re living Sept. 10.” We truly never know what a day will bring forth, and we need to be ready to meet our Maker at any time.

Another thing was this man’s renewed sense of urgency to make his life count for Christ, to remember he was living “on borrowed time.”

And finally, as he said, though someone died in his place on 9/11, Someone else died in his place on the cross.

Songs in the night

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Photo credit: mconnors from morguefile.com

Somehow over the last several months (years?) I’ve developed a tendency to wake up once or twice during the night. Friends tell me it’s part of “middle age.” I always have to get up and go to the bathroom when I wake up, and often I stumble back to bed and fall right back to sleep. But other times I’m awake for an hour or so. That’s not too much of a problem these days since at this point in my life I can catch a nap during the day if I need to, unless I need to be up at a certain time, or it’s a Saturday night and I really want to get back to sleep so I can stay awake in church the next day.

But I have learned that stewing over being awake is no way to get back to sleep. Sometimes I think, often I pray, and if my husband is not in bed I’ll turn the radio on with the “sleep” button that lets it play for an hour.

Recently when I turned the radio on in the night, the station was playing the old Unshackled program featuring stories of people whose lives had been changed through the ministry of the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago.

That really took me back. When I was a new Christian in the 70s, I’d often turn the radio on when I first went to bed. Unshackled played, as well as The Quiet Time with Albert H, Salter, Joseph Barclay as the soloist, and Lorin Whitney at the organ, Nightsounds with Bill Pearce, and the Haven of Rest Quartet program.

At that time we had just moved to Houston and away from familiar places and friends, my parents had just divorced, I had recently been saved and my family was not particularly interested, and these programs met a deep need in my life. Maybe Albert Salter and Bill Pearce just had particularly soothing voices, or maybe because these program were on late at night they were designed to be soothing and peaceful, but they definitely poured balm on my troubled soul. I’m so grateful they were there for me and for others. The Quiet Time was still on until fairly recently, and it always warmed my heart to hear those familiar voices.

I know the Bible wasn’t primarily referring to Christian radio or recorded music when it said “God my maker…giveth songs in the night” (Job 35:10) or “Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the day time, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life” (Psalm 42:8), but He certainly used them to minister to me.

I still love those programs though they’re considered old-fashioned now. And I love a lot of new music that is being produced now and has been since then.

I hope my children and loved ones know that in their deepest needs, in the “night,” literally or figuratively, they can find His songs, His peace, His comfort and instruction. And of course there is music for life’s highest joys as well, and everything inbetween.

My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me. Psalm 63:5-8

Psalm 77:1-14:

1 I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.

2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.

3 I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.

4 Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

5 I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.

6 I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.

7 Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?

8 Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?

9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

10 And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.

11 I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

12 I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.

13 Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?

14 Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people.

Laudable Linkage

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Here are some good reads from the last couple of weeks:

Forsaken By God: When Our Fears Become Our Reality. “Psalms 22 ministers to us when we struggle with a God who didn’t move for us as we expected, who didn’t save us from a painful road of life that we prayerfully tried to avoid.”

Pacifying Lies and the Sympathizing Truth. Too often we want to comfort someone in trouble with trite phrases that aren’t even really true. “It is only in looking to Christ that my friend can find comfort. Only in pointing to Christ that I can be a comforter.”

I Don’t Wait Anymore. Excellent. “A lot of girls were sold on a deal and not on a Savior….What if we as girls had learned early on that having Him was everything, not a means to the life we think He would want us to have.”

It Matters Whom You Marry. In ways you might not think about.

SuperMom vs. Abiding Mom…not just for moms.

Upcycled Dressers: Painted, Wallpapered, and Decoupaged. Some creative ideas if you need to refinish furniture.

Hope you have a great Saturday!

Friday’s Fave Five

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Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of our favorite things from the last week, a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

Some weeks I have to stop and think to remember five favorite things about the week, but this week I’ll have a hard time keeping it down to five.

1. My new swing/bench for the patio. Jim got it for my birthday a few weeks ago but was just able to assemble it Monday.

It was a key factor in…

2. Sprucing up the patio, our Labor Day weekend project. Another favorite element in that was planting a new hydrangea bush.

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I had been sorely wanting one because I loved the one at our old house, but there really wasn’t room for one in the front. But we found the perfect bare spot for it in the back next to the patio.

3. Labor Day is kind of an odd holiday: there aren’t any traditions associated with it other than grilling, there are no colors or symbols or decorations. It’s just a day off to celebrate workers. Yay us! I’ll take it! We went to Jason and Mittu’s new apartment for lunch and got to see what they’d done with it since unpacking moving boxes, and then they came here for dinner.

4. Closet shelves. We have a few storage closets, and I had been wanting shelves put into one of them, actually a double closet. Poor Jim — I have all these projects in mind that I can’t do myself. 🙂 But he was able to get them installed this weekend. It had one already and he added 4 that were 6′ long. It makes such a difference to have boxes and bags on shelves rather than stacked up to eye level. I sorted through, labeled, and organized them this week, and I even have room to spare, so soon some of the things tucked away in other spots will find a home here as well.

5. Checking things off the list, besides some of the above, like getting a haircut (I don’t know why I wait so long to do it that I am about to rip it out. It doesn’t take that long, but I keep putting it off), getting a mammogram and bone density test done (one of those over-50 things doctors like for women to do), and getting some lab work done to see if a an adjusted dosage is helping my thyroid levels (it is). It was nice to get all those things taken care of so I don’t have to keep thinking about them.

And I was able to cram everything into a list of five. 😀 I hope you’ve had a good week, and if you haven’t…I hope the weekend will be better! Happy Friday!

Disciplined by Grace

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“Disciplined by Grace” is the fifth chapter in the book The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges, which we’re discussing every Thursday in the “Reading Classics Together” challenge at Challies‘ place.

“Disciplined by Grace” seems an oxymoron to many who don’t associate the two together, but Bridges asserts that that’s because of a misunderstanding of both concepts.

The epigraph for this chapter is Titus 2:11-12: “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.”The word for “teach” there “means much more than…imparting knowledge. Originally it was used as a term for the rearing of children and included not only instruction, but also admonition, reproof, and punishment, all administered in love and for the benefit of the child” (p. 80).

Spiritually, “discipline includes all instruction, all reproof and correction, and all providentially directed hardships in our lives that are aimed at cultivating spiritual growth” (p. 80). But, “all of God’s disciplinary processes are grounded in His grace – His unmerited and unconditional favor toward us (p. 80).

It’s so important to keep these two concepts in balance. With a heavier leaning towards discipline, even good spiritual practices designed to grow us can become performance-based (thinking we earn God’s favor by doing them), while a heavier leaning toward grace can lead to laxity.

Bridges points out from the verse above that grace teaches us to say “No” to some things — ungodliness and worldly passions (and he points out that ungodliness is basically “disregarding God, ignoring Him,  or not taking Him into account in one’s life. It is a lack of fear and reverence for Him”[(p. 85]) — and “Yes” to others — self control, uprightness, and godliness. This is the basic “put off/put on” scenario of Ephesians 4:20-32.

But we need to always remember “With all this emphasis on practical Christian living…we must lose sight of the fact that it is grace — not law — that teaches us” (p. 92). The law “commanded but gave no ability to obey” and then “condemned me for my failure to obey” (p. 92).  But “where the law condemns, grace forgives through the Lord Jesus Christ. Where the law commands but gives no power, grace commands but does give power through the Holy Spirit who lives and works in us” (p. 93).

I appreciated, too, what Bridges pointed out about the fact that while our acceptance before God is on the basis of grace rather than our “performance,” on the other hand, there are many admonitions about the importance of our testimony before unbelievers and the harm that can be done to the cause of Christ by a poor example in ourselves (pp. 89-90).

More discussion on this chapter is here.

Previous chapters discussed from The Discipline of Grace are:

1) How Good Is Good Enough?
2) The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
3) Preach the Gospel to Yourself
4) We Died to Sin.

More stray thoughts…

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  • I love Monday holidays, but the whole rest of the week I keep having to ask myself, “What day is this?”
  • I don’t get the fascination with washed-out photos from Instagram. I suppose there are other ways to edit photos there, but the ones I’ve seen are a washed-out look.
  • I wonder why high schools don’t keep graduation caps and gowns on hand for students to use and return like colleges do. For each student we’ve had to buy them, and then store them in the closet or attic forever after.
  • Am I the only one who wishes books had a rating system like movies? I hate to be “surprised” by what looks like a good book only to find out it has bad words or sensual scenes in it.
  • Even though I no longer have children in elementary or high school, I find my schedule is still affected by schools. I go through three school zones to get to my mother-in-law’s place, and there are certain times of day it can take twice as long to get there due to school traffic. On the other hand, it is nicer to go shopping or to restaurants during the day now that schools are back in session.
  • I’m beginning to think that a great deal of misunderstandings and hurt feelings come not from what other people said or did, but from how we interpreted the words or actions. I think sometimes they’d be surprised at what we thought they meant or why we thought they did what they did.

Patio re-do

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One of the house projects I’ve wanted to work on is our back patio. My husband likes to sit on our front porch some times when it is cool:

It is nice there, but I felt like the back area would be more private and I’d be more likely to go there if I wanted to sit outside for a while. Plus I thought it would be nice for everyone to be able to eat out there when he grills.

I didn’t take a “before” picture, but all we had out there was a table my husband found on sale somewhere a while back, a couple of lawn chairs, and the grill.

One of my birthday presents that he just had a chance to assemble this weekend was this swing:

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Recently he bought some chairs to go with the table, and he wants to paint the table to match the chairs.

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I’d like to replace the green umbrella, too, since it has some holes in it anyway, to match the canopy over the swing.

I didn’t take a “before” photo of this area, either, but the dog’s kennel had been partly on the patio and partly on the grass, so the grassy area was kind of scraggly. We sold the kennel after she died. I had been wanting to plant a hydrangea bush because I loved them at our old house, but there wasn’t a place in the front where one would really fit. Then it occurred to me it could go right here beside the patio and have plenty of room to grow. Jim planted it for me on Saturday.

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I think I might put some pansies there, too, and cover the dirt with mulch.

I also took an old planter that had been out by the shed, spray-painted it, and repotted a little rose plant that Jim had gotten me for my birthday. I also replanted a little plant that had been on my kitchen windowsill — I hope it perks up out here.

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And so we were able to put the patio to use for a Labor Day picnic yesterday:

It was a little buggy, but Jim defended us with his “magic wand,” the electric flyswatter. 🙂

I didn’t remember til we were half-way through eating that I had a citronella candle. Next time I’ll try to light that before we get out there.

You can see that our back yard is pretty small, and at first I was dismayed by that, but then realized that our stage of life we don’t really need a lot of space back there (plus the guys appreciate having less to mow. 🙂 )

And one thing really nice about the yard is that the back is lined by evergreen trees. Even though the fence of the neighbor behind us is just behind the trees, we still have a feeling of privacy (at our last house, once the leaves fell off in autumn, I could see from my kitchen window straight into the family room of the house behind us, where the man sat watching TV. I’m sure he was usually watching TV rather than our windows, but still, it felt creepy. I put a suncatcher there at eye level in the window, but I still felt like we were spying on each other. So I am VERY glad these trees are evergreens!)  So far I haven’t heard these neighbors right back there at the fence unless they are doing yard work.

It was especially nice last night when Jason remarked that it was so peaceful back there. I thought, “Yes! That’s exactly what I was going for!”

I’m glad to have this new area shaped up to minister not only to our family but to guests. I’m looking forward to spending some time on the swing with a good book, too. 🙂

Thanks, hon, for the hard work in putting it together! And thank you, Lord, for these gifts of peaceful spots.