Does He know you?

Posted on July 18, 2007 by Barbara Harper

I like to start off my devotional reading in the morning with Daily Light on the Daily Path. The verses for this morning had to do with the blessing of being known by the Lord.

He calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. John 10:3.

The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. II Timothy 2:19.

The LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Psalm 1:6.

Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me. Isaiah 49:16.

The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. Nahum 1:7.

But He doesn’t know everyone in that sense.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Matthew 7:22-23.

Does He know you?

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. John 17:3.

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. Philippians 3:8-10.

And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. I John 5:20.

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Set the table first

Posted on July 18, 2007 by Barbara Harper

(Today’s Wordless Wednesday post is below this one)

We used to have…not conflicts, exactly, but awkward moments before dinner time. I’d start dinner, and my husband would come in from work and take the mail to the table and sort through it, or one of the kids would bring a game or their laptop or homework or something to the table. I would try to let them know that I would need to set the table within a certain time frame — I do feel that, even though I’m the authority over my children, I shouldn’t be harsh and demand that they stop what they are doing right now. Sometimes an urgent situation will call for that, but on an everyday basis I try to be considerate and give them a heads-up that I’ll need to start setting the table in ten minutes or so.

Well — sometimes it’s hard to get to a stopping place in a game or project or whatever in ten minutes. Then we would all be tense and frustrated — me, because I tried give them enough warning and felt they had ample time to get done; them because now they’re rushed.

So now when I put the meat on to brown or in the microwave to thaw, I go ahead and wipe off the table and put the plates on first thing. That’s kind of a signal to everyone that dinner will be ready soon. Then as I have time throughout the meal I’ll add napkins, utensils, condiments, etc. Not only does this make pre-meal time more peaceful for everyone, but then when dinner is ready I can get it on the table right away.

You might wonder why I don’t have the kids set the table. I do sometimes, when it’s busy or I’m running late. But I kind of enjoy the peacefulness of having the kitchen to myself while I’m getting dinner ready. Everyone does contribute toward cleaning up after dinner, unloading the dishwasher, taking out trash, etc. — believe me, there is no shortage of chores for everyone. 🙂

You can find some great tips at Rocks In My Dryer on most Wednesdays, and, by all means, share your own with us, too!

Wordless Wednesday

Posted on July 17, 2007 by Barbara Harper

(Photo taken by my husband, Jim at Callaway Gardens Butterfly Conservatory)

See more Wordless Wednesday entries at 5 Minutes For Mom and the Wordless Wednesday Hub.

Sites to see in Blogville

Posted on July 17, 2007 by Barbara Harper

One of the funniest things I’ve read in a long time is from Clint, newly back in the States missionary from Venezuela and husband of Jungle Mom, on The Most Elusive and Dangerous Prey. I was going to post couple of tidbits, but I don’t want to spoil it. Go read it — you’ll have fun. 🙂 Not in Kansas Anymore!!! is pretty funny, too.

If you love crafty eye candy, you need to see the Bits and Pieces Collages Swap entries at Every Day is a Holiday. They’re just darling. I saw when she first announced the swap, but it was a busy time, so I didn’t sign up to participate. But I love looking at what the others did. I really want to do something like that some time.

Mrs. B. at Cherish the Home has a very sobering and convicting post of a woman’s testimony concerning mistakes she made in her marriage which left her Alone.

There are lots of special things happening in Blogville over the next several days.

Mary at Owlhaven is sponsoring a meme on Friday, July 20, called My Childhood Home. She says, “I’d like you all to consider writing about your childhood home. It doesn’t matter how big or small it was. All the memories don’t have to be picture-perfect. If you moved a lot, it’s fine to pick one favorite house. What I want to hear are details that were important to you as a child: your secret hideout under the stairs, the single-paned picture window you licked and froze your tongue to one winter morning, the backyard tree you climbed, the way your mother washed your hair in the kitchen sink every Saturday night, or any other strong indelible memory you have.” She’ll put up a Mr. Linky on Friday so that anyone who wants to participate can write a post on their blog and put the link on that post. More details are here.

Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer is hosting a Dog Days of Summer Bloggy Giveaway. There are so many blogs giving away various things, she thought it would be fun to have a carnival of sorts for various bloggers to host give-aways all at the same time and place. She writes, “You can hold a drawing at your blog for whatever you want. It doesn’t have to be big, or expensive, or even new. It can be something you made. Or something you found on sale. Or something you’ve used (a book, maybe?) and want to pass on to others. A purse? Jewelry? A gift card? The ideas are endless. If you’re feeling extra creative, choose an item that is significant to your own blog.” She’ll put up a Mr. Linky on her site Monday, July 23 and bloggers who want to give away something can link up any time that week until Friday. Then drawings for all the prizes will be drawn Friday, July 27. Guidelines are here. You have to be a blogger to give something, but you don’t have to have a blog to enter the contests on the sites you’re interested in.

GiBee at Kisses of Sunshine is hosting a cupcake contest: details are here.

Overwhelmed With Joy is starting a monthly book give away called “Pay It Forward,” in which she’ll give away a book a month and then ask the recipient to give it away when she’s done with it. There are a lot of other bloggers giving away books linked at her site, too. Details are here.

Whew! It seems like there were some others I was going to mention, but that’s probably enough for now. 🙂

Time Travel Tuesday: Camp Memories

Posted on July 17, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Our Time Travel Tuesday topic this week, hosted as always by My Life as Annie, is our favorite summer camp experiences.

Wow — I’ve been sitting here trying to remember summer camp (you have to remember my childhood was a long time ago. 🙂 ) I do remember going to Girl Scout camp in my elementary years, making “sit-upons” — carpet squares that were somehow encased in something plastic and had rope or something through one end so we could tie them around our waists but have something dry and clean whenever we wanted to sit down (doesn’t that sound just so classy? LOL!) I remember learning to make s’mores, swimming in a lake (well, splashing in a lake), walking around with flashlights from the main meeting area to the tents, ghost stories and giggling girls.

Then there was a gap in my camping years until I began going to a good church during my junior year of high school and then to a Christian camp that summer. There instead of tents we were in a building of some sort with several bunk beds. I remember our pastor’s wife was there, a very straight-laced and and no-nonsense proper lady, and another lady was determined to do something prankish to her, but out of respect never did. She sure had fun thinking about it, though. 🙂 I can’t remember a lot about the camp itself, but I do remember enjoying being saturated with preaching and devotional times. That was a new experience for me, being totally away from the distractions of normal life for a week and being influenced on every side by the Word. We had some of the ladies from church as our counselors, and it was neat to see them in a different role and hear them lead devotions at night.

The one camp experience I remember the most, though, was a winter camp that I went to while on a college Christmas break. Jim and I were dating and his parents flew me from Texas to Idaho to meet them. During part of that time several people from Jim’s church were going to a winter camp with a group from the church of the pastor’s oldest son, who was a youth pastor in California. The camp we went to was an old Girl Scout camp in southern Idaho. It was fairly primitive — no indoor heat except for a fireplace, no indoor toilets, no electricity except when someone ran the generator. I’m from southeast Texas where we had snow once that I remember growing up; in college in South Carolina it was colder and we had snow more often, but nothing like snow and cold in Idaho in December. Thankfully other folks in the church contributed boots and other such gear so that I could go. I remember stepping off the “trail” and sinking hip deep in snow and being afraid of losing the borrowed boot, not being thrilled about tramping out to the the frozen outhouse, and getting buried in new snow one morning when we went down a hill on inner tubes and being so cold I couldn’t move. Jim had to take my muffler off and shake the snow out of it for me. I do remember having a lot of fun times during those few days, though, and the best thing was that one young girl was saved, and later her whole family began coming to church there and were strong members of that church for many years.

Scriptural reasons for suffering

Posted on July 16, 2007 by Barbara Harper

One of the most perplexing and troubling questions people deal with is “Why is there suffering in the world?” — or, more often, “Why am I suffering right now?” There have been whole books written on the subject. Among the best I have found are When God Weeps by Joni Eareckson Tada, Rose From Brier by Amy Carmichael, and A Path Through Suffering by Elisabeth Elliot.

In the back Elisabeth Elliot’s book she has an appendix titled “A Summary of Reasons for Suffering” which I want to reproduce here. These verses do not deal so much with how to respond Scripturally to suffering, though some touch on that: that will have to be the subject of another post. These are just several of the reasons we find in Scripture for why God allows suffering. I wish I could print out all the related passages here, but it would make this post exceptionally long. I did try to link to most of them so you could just click on the reference to read the passage.

For the LORD will not cast off for ever: But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. Lamentations 3:31-33

We may group God’s reasons [for allowing suffering] into four categories. The list of references is by no means exhaustive.

1) We suffer for our own sake:

That we may learn who God is — Ps. 46:1, 10; Dan. 4:24-37; Job
That we may learn to trust — II Cor. 1:8-9
That we may learn to obey — Ps. 119: 67, 71
Discipline is a proof of the Father’s love and of the validity of our sonship — Heb. 12: 5-11
It is the condition of our discipleship — Acts 14:22; Luke 14:26-27, 33
It is required of soldiers — II Tim. 2:3-4
We are being “pruned” that we may bear fruit — John 15:2
That we may be shaped into the image of Christ — Rom. 8:29
To qualify us to be fellow-heirs with Christ — Romans 8:17 (I don’t know if I would have used the word “qualify” there — it is certainly not meant in a salvation-obtaining way.)
To qualify us for the kingdom of God — II Thess. 1:4-5 (Same herewith the word “qualify.” These verses isn’t saying that once we’ve suffered then we can go to heaven)
To qualify us to reign with Christ — II Tim. 2:12
That our faith may be strengthened — James 1:3; II Thess. 1:4-5; Acts 14:22
That our faith may be tested and refined — Isaiah 43:2; Dn. 11:35; Mal. 3:2; I Cor. 3:13; I Pet. 1:7
That we may reach spiritual maturity — James 1:4
Power comes to its full strength in weakness — II Cor. 12:9
To produce in us endurance character, hope — Romans 5:3-4
To produce in us joy and generosity — II Cor. 8:2

2) We suffer for the sake of God’s people:

That they may obtain salvation — II Tim. 2:10
To give them courage — Phil. 1:14
That because of death working in us, life may work in them — II Cor. 4:12; Gal. 4:13; I John 3:16
That grace may extend to more — II Cor.4:15
That our generosity may bless others — II Cor. 8:2

3) We suffer for the world’s sake:

That it may be shown what love and obedience mean — Job; Jn. 14:31; Mt. 27:40-43
That the life of Jesus may be visible in our ordinary human flesh — II Cor. 4:10

4) We suffer for Christ’s sake:

That we may be identified with Him in His crucifixion — Ga. 2:20
Suffering is the corollary of faith — Ps. 44:22; Acts 9:16 and 14:22; II Tim. 3:12; Jn. 15: 18-21; I Thess. 1:6 and 3:4
That we may share His suffering — I Pt. 4:12-13; Phil. 1:29, 2:17, and 3:8, 10; Col. 1:24; II Tim. 1:8; Heb. 13:13
That we may share His glory — Romans 8:17-18; Heb. 2:9-10; II Cor. 4:17.

There are a few I didn’t see in her list:

Deut. 8:2-3: “And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.”

To comfort others: II Cor 1: 3-7.

That we might know His grace is sufficient in our weakness: II Cor 12:7-10.

To spare us from a greater trial He knows would be too much for us: Exodus 13:17-18.

For our own foolishness. There are many verses in Proverbs about the results of foolish behavior.

To show people that what they’re trusting in is not sufficient. One of the reasons God caused the events in Exodus was to get people’s attention and to show that their gods were no gods, that He alone was God. He did get their attention, and there are signs some believed. Exodus 18:5-11; Exodus 14:18; 14:31; 11:9.

To bring to repentance: In some of the calamities God will cause in the time frame Revelation tells us of are designed to get people’s attention, for He says often in that book, “Though I sent this and did that, yet you still did not repent,” indicating that that was His purpose, or at least one purpose, behind the events.

There are instances of natural disaster as judgment in Scripture (being without rain 3 years in Elijah’s time), but not every natural event is judgmental (just as sometimes individual illnesses are judgmental — Asa being diseased in his feet, Miriam being turned leprous, but not every illness is judgmental for that person [i.e., the man born blind in John 9] except in the sense that evil happens because sin is in the world).

That God’s work may be shown: John 9:1-7

“When all you have is Christ you find that Christ is all you need.” I don’t remember who said that or something like it, but I do know that times in my life where I have felt the rug pulled out from under me, so to speak, are times when I came to know by experience that Christ truly was sufficient for every need. Spurgeon has a wonderful devotional here on Hebrews 12:27: “that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.”

Sorrow teaches our hearts things that could not be learned otherwise. Ecclesiastes 7:2-4 says: “It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.”

We live in a world affected by sin: Though I can’t think of one single passage that states this, there are several places that indicate that suffering came into the world when sin did and sin, sorrow, sickness, etc., will be eliminated for believers when they get to heaven. Rev. 21:4

Another thought is that God does not view death as we do. This was one thing that helped my son when he was troubled about why God let natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina happen. Death is in God’s hands, whether it is the death of an individual or hundreds of people, whether it happens in a car crash or an illness or a natural disaster. And, for the Christian, God looks at death differently than we do. On His side of it, He is ushering us into His Presence, and nothing could be better. To the lost and to the saved as well, these things can be a wake-up call — we all have a time limit, it is not guaranteed that we will live a certain number of years, and we need to be ready to meet eternity at any moment.

We have to accept, though, that we may never know why God allows certain particular things to happen. There’s no record that Job ever knew of the conversations between God and Satan about him during his lifetime. But as I mentioned earlier, we can cling to what we do know of God’s goodness and character, rest in the fact that He will bring good out of it, and trust that He will provide grace and strength.

New book about Dallas and Kay Washer

Posted on July 15, 2007 by Barbara Harper

For those of you who are familiar with Dallas and Kay Washer and their missionary work in Togo, Africa, I just found out tonight that there is a new book hot off the press by Kay about their lives called One Candle to Burn. The title comes from the saying by John Keith Falconer which Dal had inscribed on the flyleaf of his Bible, “I have but one candle of life to burn, and would rather burn it out where people are dying in darkness than in a land which is flooded with light.”

Dallas passed away many years ago. They had always thought that he would be the one to wrote a book, but when the Lord took him home, Kay knew that she needed to be the one to tell their story. I never met Dal, but he is almost legend around these parts. 🙂 Kay has spoken to our ladies at church a couple of times, I think. I always enjoy hearing her and I am so glad to see this book. As much as I love the missionary classics, I believe it is incredibly important for missionaries of our time to record what the Lord has done. The same God who worked through Hudson Taylor and Amy Carmichael is still at work today!

The book is published by ABWE. I was blessed to get a copy tonight because some of their family members go to our church and had some with them. 🙂

The Lord is my Light

Posted on July 14, 2007 by Barbara Harper

(Graphic courtesy of Snapshots of Joy)

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt: Shadow(s)

Posted on July 13, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Theme: Shadow(s) | Become a Photo Hunter | View Blogroll

Wow, this was a hard one! I didn’t have time to look, but I couldn’t think of any pictures we had that had shadows, and the time I thought about taking a picture outside at home, it was overcast or the sun was too far down. I tried taking some of Jesse doing hand shadows. At first I was disappointed because I couldn’t get the right balance of focus and light. but when I downloaded them and experimented a little bit, some of them came out at least well enough to make out. 🙂

Gorilla:

Bird:

Rabbit:

For this one, I set up some of Jesse’s Heroscape figures. The picture didn’t look like it came out at all until I fiddled with the light settings after I downloaded them, and voila, there they were! It’s a little grainy, but it’s kinda cool.

Visit TNChick’s place here for more photos on this theme.

Updated to add:

I was thinking of this poem earlier in connection with this theme, but then forgot about it when posting at first. Amy Carmichael was a missionary in India for most of her adult life. The inspiration for this poem came as a result of the heat in India and the refreshing coolness to be found in the shadow, plus the story of the Israelites being led by the pillow of fire by night and the pillar of cloud by day in the book of Exodus. This poem would look nice with a picture of a nice shady place, which I don’t have. 🙂 But there are several pictures of such shade on other photo hunters’ entries for today.

I Follow Thee

Shadow and coolness, Lord,
Art Thou to me;
Cloud of my soul, lead on,
I follow Thee.
What though the hot winds blow,
Fierce heat beats up below?
Fountains of water flow —
Praise, praise to Thee.

Clearness and glory, Lord,
Art Thou to me;
Light of my soul, lead on,
I follow Thee.
All through the moonless night,
Making its darkness bright,
Thou art my heavenly Light —
Praise, praise to Thee.

Shadow and shine art Thou,
Dear Lord, to me;
Pillar of cloud and fire,
I follow Thee.
What though the way be long,
In Thee my heart is strong,
Thou art my joy, my song —
Praise, praise to Thee.

Show and Tell Friday: Houses

Posted on July 13, 2007 by Barbara Harper

(Scroll down for the Friday’s Feast.)

Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home hosts “Show and Tell Friday” asking “Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, an antique find. Your show and tell can be old or new. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there’s a story behind your special something, that’s even better! If you would like to join in, all you have to do is post your “Show and Tell” on your blog, copy the post link, come over here and add it to Mr. Linky.“

When we moved to this house a little over nine years ago and I was unpacking all my decorations, I didn’t realize I had several little houses. The first item was a cookie jar.

I also found somewhere along the way this cute little house. It’s supposed to be one of those things where you put a small candle in the back and something scented that melts in a little impression above it — but scented things like that give me a headache, so I just enjoy looking at the little house.

I put everything else in a grouping on the kitchen wall.

I love the little house-shaped pot-holder with the heart in it. I couldn’t use it as a pot holder, so I am using it as a decoration and enjoying it that way. It will last a lot longer!

Here are some close-ups of some of those things.

These were unframed prints at the Christian book store for just a few dollars, and I got some 2 for $5 frames for them.

The top one says, “Treasured friends: time only makes them more dear.” The bottom one says

Let’s visit — just come in and sit.
Our homes warmed by your presence — so linger a bit.

This is one of my favorites. I love this saying. I think I got both of these at a craft show.

The two on the right here were craft show finds as well. The little windmill my husband brought home for me on a trip to Austria that had a layover in Holland.

This doesn’t have a house on it, but it says “Happiness is home made” — which kind of fits.

I’ve shown my some of my hearts and pink roses collections before, and several of these little houses have hearts and/or roses on them. But I don’t have the space to expand this collection like the others, so I am trying to keep it as is. I did, however, buy three little wooden house cut-outs that I want to try to paint “some day.”