Our Fourth

Posted on July 5, 2007 by Barbara Harper

We enjoyed a pretty restful day at home — restful except that I hadn’t made it to the store on Tuesday and had to go Wednesday morning. It was pretty busy (so at least I wasn’t the only one!) but the cashier said it had been really busy the day before. Then I spent the afternoon baking cookies.

Our church had a short service and a fellowship dinner. The church supplied fried chicken, beverages, and paper products and we were supposed to bring cookies, cakes, or pies for a contest plus a side dish. Last year we were to bring something red, white, and blue for dessert, so I borrowed and idea I had seen in Family Fun Magazine (but I can’t find it on their site now!) and dipped some strawberries in melted white chocolate and then again in blue sugar (leaving red showing at the top, then a line of white, with the blue at the bottom so you can see all three colors). So I was trying to think of another red, white, and blue dessert when this was announced and I had to switch gears mentally. I ended up making the cookies I usually make for most church or school functions, a chocolate chip recipe with vanilla pudding mixed in. And I won the adult cookie division! There were only 3 or 4 ladies who made cookies, so it wasn’t a terribly big deal. But it still felt nice. 🙂 My prize was a cookie sheet and a really cute kitchen towel with chocolate chip cookies on it.

Unfortunately the cookie sheet won’t fit into my small oven, so I might give it to the church kitchen or see if someone else can use it.

By the way, here’s a free tip and it’s not even works-for-me-Wednesday. 😀 When we first moved into this house, my tried-and-true favorite cookies were not turning out right, burning and sticking to the pan. I had never had that problem that I can remember. In trying to research and find out what was wrong,. I read that your cookie sheets have to have a proportionate amount of space around them in the oven for the hot air to circulate and for them to bake evenly. I got smaller cookie sheets, and, voila, everything turned out fine. I can only get a dozen cookies on the size sheets that fit, so it takes ages to make a triple batch for a church function with some left over for home.

The fellowship was fun, the food was great, and we got to visit with some good friends.

Often we go to a nearby colonial battlefield where they have a yearly fireworks display, but this time I was tired and overfull and just didn’t feel like dealing with the distance and traffic. Jeremy really had his heart set on seeing some fireworks, though, so he and Jesse and Jim drove around to see if they could find anyone shooting some off. They finally did see some pretty nice ones. Unfortunately we can’t have them in the city limits. We used to like to get some little ones (the interesting kind, not the kind that just makes noise. One of our favorites was a little tank that spewed fireworks out the back while it rolled).

I flipped back and forth between some of the special holiday programs on TV. Some times in the past they’ve been pretty good, but there wasn’t much interesting this year.

Then I curled up with the book I’m reading and enjoyed a few pages before I fell sleep. 🙂 I’m reading The Restorer by Sharon Hinck — great stuff!!

Here’s that recipe:

Pudding Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 pkg. (4 serving size) instant vanilla pudding
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 pkg (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine butter, sugars, pudding mix, and vanilla; beat until smooth and creamy. Beat in eggs. Mix flour with baking soda. and gradually add flour mixture. Stir in chips. Drop from teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes (mine usually take 10-12 minutes). I used to add chocolate chunks or miniature Hershey’s kisses just for something different, but I haven’t been able to find those lately.

Freedom and discipline

Posted on July 5, 2007 by Barbara Harper

It doesn’t seem like those two words would go together, does it? People who want freedom in their personal lives usually don’t want discipline. Today’s e-mail devotional from Elisabeth Elliot’s writings, sent out by Back to the Bible, shares some intriguing thoughts along these lines. Here is just an excerpt from the longer article, which is an excerpt from her book All That Was Ever Ours.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a man who epitomized true freedom in his acceptance, for God’s sake, of the prison cell and death, wrote: “If you set out to seek freedom, then learn above all things to govern your soul and your senses. . . . Only through discipline may a man learn to be free.”

Freedom and discipline have come to be regarded as mutually exclusive, when in fact freedom is not at all the opposite, but the final reward, of discipline. It is to be bought with a high price, not merely claimed. The world thrills to watch the grace of Peggy Fleming on the ice, or the marvelously controlled speed and strength of a racehorse. But the skater and horse are free to perform as they do only because they have been subjected to countless hours of grueling work, rigidly prescribed, faithfully carried out. Men are free to soar into space because they have willingly confined themselves in a tiny capsule designed and produced by highly trained scientists and craftsmen, have meticulously followed instructions and submitted themselves to rules which others defined.

I spent some time living with a jungle tribe whose style of life looked enviably “free.” They wore no clothes, lived in houses without walls, had no idea whatever of authority, paid no taxes, read no books, took no vacations. But they had a well-defined goal. They wanted to stay alive. It was as simple as that. And in a jungle, which can look very hostile indeed to one not accustomed to living there, they had learned to live. They accepted with grace and humor the awful weather, the gnats, the mud, thorns, snakes, steep hills, and deep forests which made their lives difficult. They never even spoke of “roughing it.” They didn’t know anything else. They’d walk for hours with hundred-pound baskets on their backs and when they reached their destination, perhaps in a tropical downpour, they did not so much as say, “Whew!” They knew what was expected of them, and did it as a matter of course. None asked, “Who am I?” They asked only, “What am I to do this next moment?” If it were to hunt or to make poison for darts, a man did that, or if it were to go out and clear new planting space, a woman did that. Their freedom to live in that jungle depended on a well-defined goal and on their willingness to discipline themselves in order to reach it. No one could “give” them this freedom.

I lived with these footloose people in their “jungle” environment–a nonproductive member of their community–and enjoyed a kind of freedom which even hippies might envy. But I was free only because the Indians worked. My freedom was contingent upon their acceptance of me as a liability and, incidentally, upon my own willingness to confine myself to a forest clearing where all I heard was a foreign language.

The 100th Thursday Thirteen Celebration

Posted on July 5, 2007 by Barbara Harper

I have kind of gotten away from the Thursday Thirteen meme, but today is its 100th week in business, and it has been suggested that we post about our favorite T13 posts.

1. Thirteen reasons to read the Bible

2. Thirteen favorite Bible verses

3. Thirteen quotes about prayer

4. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

5. Thirteen of life’s little pleasures

6. Thirteen things to make small groups run more smoothly

7. Thirteen favorite jokes

8. Thirteen favorite Q&A jokes

9. Thirteen favorite quotes and Short quotes

10. Thirteen one-liners and More one liners

11. Thirteen things you might not know about me

12. Thirteen mixed metaphors

13. Thirteen favorite puns

Bonus 1: Just because it’s that time of year: 13 signs of summer in the South

Bonus 2: I’ve enjoyed many other T13s of others, but just don;t remember them or didn’t keep track of them. But 13 quotes on age and aging caught my eye because I am facing a “milestone” birthday next month and I saved these for future reference. 🙂

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

The Best Freedom

Posted on July 3, 2007 by Barbara Harper

(Graphic courtesy of Snapshots of Joy)

Glorious Freedom

by Haldor Lillenas

Once I was bound by sin’s galling fetters,
Chained like a slave, I struggled in vain;
But I received a glorious freedom,
When Jesus broke my fetters in twain.

* Refrain:
Glorious freedom, wonderful freedom,
No more in chains of sin I repine!
Jesus the glorious Emancipator,
Now and forever He shall be mine.

Freedom from all the carnal affections,
Freedom from envy, hatred and strife;
Freedom from vain and worldly ambitions,
Freedom from all that saddened my life.

Freedom from pride and all sinful follies,
Freedom from love and glitter of gold;
Freedom from evil, temper, and anger,
Glorious freedom, rapture untold.

Freedom from fear with all of its torments,
Freedom from care with all of its pain;
Freedom in Christ, my blessed Redeemer,
He who has rent my fetters in twain.

John 8:32, 3: And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Romans 3:23-26: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Revelation 21:6: And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

Revelation 22:17: And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

Poems for the Fourth of July

Posted on July 3, 2007 by Barbara Harper

The Old Flag

By H.C. Bunner

Off with your hat as the flag goes by!
And let the heart have it say;
You’re man enough for a tear in your eye
That you will never wipe away.
You’re man enough for a thrill that goes
To your very finger-tips–
Ay! the lump just then in your throat that rose
Spoke more than your parted lips.
Lift up the boy on your shoulder high,
And show him the faded shred;
Those stripes would be red as the sunset sky
If death could have dyed them red.
Off with your hat as the flag goes by!
Uncover the youngster’s head;
Teach him to hold it holy and high
For the sake of its sacred dead.

A Patriotic Creed

By Edgar Guest

To serve my country day by day
At any humble post I may;
To honor and respect her flag,
To live the traits of which I brag;
To be American in deed
As well as in my printed creed.

To stand for truth and honest toil,
To till my little patch of soil,
And keep in mind the debt I owe
To them who died that I might know
My country, prosperous and free,
And passed this heritage to me.

I always must in trouble’s hour
Be guided by the men in power;
For God and country I must live,
My best for God and country give;
No act of mine that men may scan
Must shame the name American.

To do my best and play my part,
American in mind and heart;
To serve the flag and bravely stand
To guard the glory of my land;
To be American in deed:
God grant me strength to keep this creed!

A Patriotic Wish

By Edgar Guest

I’d like to be the sort of man the flag could boast about;
I’d like to be the sort of man it cannot live without;
I’d like to be the type of man
That really is American:
The head-erect and shoulders-square,
Clean-minded fellow, just and fair,
That all men picture when they see
The glorious banner of the free.

I’d like to be the sort of man the flag now typifies,
The kind of man we really want the flag to symbolize;
The loyal brother to a trust,
The big, unselfish soul and just,
The friend of every man oppressed,
The strong support of all that’s best,
The sturdy chap the banner’s meant,
Where’er it flies, to represent.

I’d like to be the sort of man the flag’s supposed to mean,
The man that all in fancy see wherever it is seen,
The chap that’s ready for a fight
Whenever there’s a wrong to right,
The friend in every time of need,
The doer of the daring deed,
The clean and generous handed man
That is a real American.

The following isn’t a poem but rather a reading of the Pledge of Allegiance with explanations along the way by Red Skelton:

Red Skelton’s Commentary on the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance

As a schoolboy in Vincennes, Indiana, one of Red Skelton’s teachers explained the words and meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance to his class. Skelton later wrote down, and eventually recorded, his recollection of this lecture. It is followed by an observation of his own.

I: Me; an individual; a committee of one.

Pledge: Dedicate all of my worldly goods to give without self-pity.

Allegiance: My love and my devotion.

To the Flag: Our standard; Old Glory ; a symbol of courage; and wherever she waves there is respect, because your loyalty has given her a dignity that shouts, “Freedom is everybody’s job.”

Of the United: That means that we have all come together.

States: Individual communities that have united into forty-eight great states. Forty-eight individual communities with pride and dignity and purpose. All divided by imaginary boundaries, yet united to a common cause, and that is love of country… of America.

And to the Republic: Republic–a sovereign state in which power is invested in representatives chosen by the people to govern. And government is the people; and it’s from the people to the leaders, not from the leaders to the people.

For Which It Stands

One Nation: meaning, so blessed by God.

Indivisible: Incapable of being divided.

With Liberty: Which is Freedom; the right of power for one to live his own life, without fears, threats, or any sort of retaliation.

And Justice: The principle, and qualities, of dealing fairly with others.

For All: That means it’s as much your country as it is mine.

Since I was a small boy, two states have been added to our country, and two words have been added to the Pledge of Allegiance: “Under God.” Wouldn’t it be a pity if someone said that is a prayer, and that would be eliminated from schools, too?

— Red Skelton
1913-1997

—Read on the “Red Skelton Hour”
January 14, 1969

Other Interesting Reading:
“Remembering the Fourth of July” by David Barton (have to scroll down to this part of the article).

(Bottom graphic courtesy of Anne’s Place. I am not sure where the others came from.)

Time Travel Tuesday: Wedding Edition

Posted on July 3, 2007 by Barbara Harper

I forgot about Time Travel Tuesday this week until I saw someone’s post on their blog! I guess thinking and planning around the holiday this week threw me off.

My Life as Annie hosts Time Travel Tuesday in which we look back at some time in our lives in relation to the topic of the week. This week the topic is our wedding.

My husband and I were still in college when we got married. I had one semester left — only 3 classes actually needed to graduate (it took me five years to complete a four year course 😳 ) and he had two. Actually his adviser advised us to marry — he told my husband his grades were dropping because he was dating too much and he needed to go ahead and get married. And we thought, well, ok then! 😀 (Interestingly, his grades did improve afterward!)

We got married in December. In all my wedding dreams, I had never wanted a Christmas wedding — but I had a choice between that December or the following August, so I took that December! I am one of those weird people who doesn’t like red, so we chose blue and silver for our colors.

I hadn’t been to that many weddings — there is so much I would do differently now. But the point is to join a man and wife, and we did accomplish that. 🙂

We got engaged in May just before saying good-bye from college in SC for the summer, then he went home to Idaho and I went home to Texas. I worked on wedding details through the summer, and we conferred on the phone a lot, then he came to Texas at the end of the summer to meet my family and finalize plans before we both left to go back to SC for school. We had never heard about wedding coordinators then (I am so glad someone invented them!), so we were planning everything ourselves. A lady in our church did a wonderful job with wedding cakes, so we asked her to do ours, and asked her for a recommendation for photographers. We each just had one attendant since most of our friends were from school and couldn’t come. My maid of honor’s mother made her dress in a blue floral fabric I loved — sort of like a jacquard, but not quite (I wish I had kept a swatch of the fabric!) The best man and ushers were in gray tuxes, and in looking back, I probably should have had the guys in blue and the maid of honor in a silvery fabric, because it ended up looking like the colors were blue and gray — which people had fun with since I’m from the south and he’s from the north (northwest, really, but that’s north enough for some people. 🙂 ) But we did have silver ribbons in the flowers and such.

I don’t remember whether we got a recommendation for the florist or just found someone in the phone book, but when Jim came, we made a trip to the florist I had picked out. We walked in that August day and told them we were planning a December wedding — and they promptly told us December was too busy and good luck finding a florist who would do a wedding in December! I was in tears, and as we drove home, Jim saw another florist shop. He parked the car and went in and asked if they would do a December wedding — and they said sure!

We had our first serious disagreement as a couple over wedding plans. 🙂 I had only been to weddings in my church, and they were all pretty much done a certain way. One element that was always included was that the bridal couple knelt on a little prayer bench during a part of the ceremony, and the pastor prayed for them. My husband-to-be had never been to our church, much less to a wedding there, and, not knowing that this was “always” done, said he didn’t want to kneel because his shoes weren’t in the best shape and he couldn’t afford to get new ones and he didn’t want to display the old soles of his old shoes to the congregation while he was kneeling. Of course, in my mind, we just couldn’t not kneel! It sounds so silly now — it would have been fine to stand or to angle the bench somehow so the soles of his shoes weren’t in people’s faces. Nice guy that he is, my husband conceded. I don’t remember if he got new shoes or just tried to spiff up his old ones.

So we had everything pretty much set before heading off for fall semester. I was actually student teaching that semester, and my supervisor was afraid I wouldn’t be able to keep my mind on it while planning for a wedding, but I assured her everything was all planned, and everything was fine. I can’t imagine doing that now — but I was young then. 🙂

The semester finally ended and we headed back to Texas with a few days to spare before the wedding. We couldn’t afford a nice restaurant for the rehearsal dinner, so Jim and I made dinner and served it at the church fellowship hall. My pastor’s wife set some very nice tables for it. Everything was going fine until the night before the wedding — our best man was driving by himself from Idaho to Texas and wasn’t there in time for the rehearsal. Jim asked the father of my maid of honor (from the C family that I have mentioned a couple of times before) to stand in if the best man didn’t make it in time, and he agreed to. But thankfully the best man arrived in the wee hours of the morning bearing gifts from Idaho. Jim’s parents didn’t come. They didn’t have any problems with our getting married, but it was a combination of being too close to Christmas and too much out of their comfort zone, I think. They are very, very private people — very open with their family and circle of friends, but not at all prone to travel new places and meet new people. I will admit that was a sore spot for a long time. Even though I understood on one hand, on the other I thought — for one Christmas out of all the Christmases of your lives you couldn’t do something a little different? And you couldn’t extend yourself for your youngest son? But — what can you do? You can’t be bitter and hold it against them ever after, so we just accepted it and moved on.

Every wedding has its problems. I think it was the morning of the rehearsal that the pianist called and said there was one piece in the prelude that she couldn’t master and asked if she could leave it out. That was fine. Then the wedding day morning one of the soloists called and was very sick. I called the pastor, and he was familiar enough with the song that he could sing it. He was already singing a duet with another lady. Since we had so many unsaved loved ones, we had asked him to take a little extra time to just go over the picture in Scripture (Eph. 5:31-32) of a husband and wife representing Christ and the church and the invitation in Scripture to become a part of the bride of Christ. He did have that emphasis anyway, but we just wanted it maybe extended or explained a little more for those unfamiliar with it. He teased my husband when he and his best man were getting ready by saying, “I’m performing a wedding, preaching a message, singing a duet and a solo. What do you have to be nervous about?” 🙂

The only problem during the wedding itself was that just before I was to start down the aisle, the greenery around an archway came loose and in what seemed like slow motion began unwinding itself around the arch and fell. A dear lady near the front, the other half of the duet, stepped up and tucked it back in.

One problem we didn’t discover til afterward — in many of the pictures my eyes were closed!

Other than that, everything went fine!

Here’s the wedding party. I was trying to go for an old-fashioned southern look — my maid of honor and I both had hoop skirts on. But later on I felt my dress and veil looked more Spanish than southern! We had bought this dress but I probably should have gone with the pattern for the bridesmaid dress and had it made.

Here’s one of the many with my eyes closed. 🙄 Isn’t that ridiculous?! I guess you could day I was looking blissful. I wasn’t terribly happy with the photography in general, but not much can be done after the fact. I am so glad for digital cameras these days! You’ll notice I didn’t do my hair — my hair doesn’t “do.”

One of the songs we used was “O Perfect Love,” an older song not heard much these days, but I came across it in a hymn book and just loved the words. I think someone sang this on the kneeling-on-the-bench part of the ceremony. 🙂 The other song we used combined parts of “Nearer, Still Nearer” and “The Sands of Time.” I had heard that at another wedding and thought it was beautiful. Both songs have the same meter and work well with the tune of either. I am trying to remember which tune we used — and I am not sure (this was over 27 years ago!) I think the one to “Nearer, Still Nearer.” I can’t remember which of the verses we used — the first for sure, an I think the second of “Nearer” and these couple from “Sands”:

Nearer, still nearer, close to Thy heart,
Draw us, our Savior—so precious Thou art!
Fold us, oh, fold us close to Thy breast.
Shelter us safe in that “Haven of Rest”;
Shelter us safe in that “Haven of Rest.”

Nearer, still nearer, nothing we bring,
Naught as an offering to Jesus, our King;
Only our sinful, now contrite hearts.
Grant us the cleansing Thy blood doth impart.
Grant us the cleansing Thy blood doth impart.

O I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved’s mine!
He brings a poor vile sinner into His “house of wine.”
I stand upon His merit—I know no other stand,
Not even where glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land.

The Bride eyes not her garment, but her dear Bridegroom’s face;
I will not gaze at glory but on my King of grace.
Not at the crown He giveth but on His pierced hand;
The Lamb is all the glory of Immanuel’s land.

Patriotic quotes for Independence Day

Posted on July 3, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Some quotes for the Fourth of July:

From John Adams’ famous letter of July 3, 1776, in which he wrote to his wife Abigail what his thoughts were about celebrating the Independence Day, with his original spellings:

The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.

A thoughtful mind, when it sees a Nation’s flag, sees not the flag only, but the Nation itself; and whatever may be its symbols, its insignia, he reads chiefly in the flag the Government, the principles, the truths, the history which belongs to the Nation that sets it forth.
~ Henry Ward Beecher

Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens. ~ Daniel Webster

Liberty exists in proportion to wholesome restraint. ~ Daniel Webster

If our country is worth dying for in time of war let us resolve that it is truly worth living for in time of peace. ~ Hamilton Fish

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
—Thomas Paine

Having devotions when you’re not feeling very devoted

Posted on July 1, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Several days ago, I was starting out my devotional time as I usually do by reading the day’s passage from a book called Daily Light for the Daily Path. The verses for that day were mostly about attributes of God. As I got to the end of the page, instead of being thankful and full of praise or uplifted and inspired, I merely thought, rather tiredly, “Yeah, I know that already.” I was immediately rebuked by the coldness of my heart, asked the Lord to forgive me and quicken me, and went back though the verses, praising the Lord for each of the attributes I read there. Then I was thankful, full of praise, uplifted, inspired…and humbled.

There are a few thoughts from this experience I’d like to share:

First, sometimes we feel that “deadness of spirit” when we’re tired or not feeling well. Sometimes it actually works better to go ahead and take a little nap and come back to devotions later. Sometimes we’re just distracted and need to ask the Lord to help us focus. Sometimes we need to ask Him to show us any sin in our lives that needs to be confessed. Sometimes we need to ask Him to forgive us for our coldness and quicken us — a visiting preacher during one summer had an excellent message on the phrase “quicken me,” which recurs nine times in Psalm 119. For example, verse 25 says, “My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word” (the NKJV and the NASB use the word “revive”).

Secondly, when we come across passages that are familiar to us, we can try to read them with new eyes, as if we’ve never seen them before. If it is a story, like David an Goliath, we can try to picture it happening before our eyes. We can ask the Lord to help us get the lessons from it He has for us.

Thirdly, we need to remember we won’t always find something “new” in the Bible if we have been reading it for a while. We’ll never exhaust it — there will always be new things to learn. But we also need the repetition of the old truths we have learned so we don’t forget them. Over and over in the Bible we see God repeating Israel’s history to them, reminding them of things He had told them before. We see how people drift away from Him when they forget His truth. Sometimes the repetition is a deeply needed blessing. But if it seems “old news” to us, we can ask God to help us appreciate it anew. We can praise Him for it. We often don’t praise the Lord as we should. I’ve wondered at the phrase “the sacrifice of praise” in Scripture, wondering why the Lord called it a “sacrifice.” It may be because it is a “sweet smell” unto Him, or it may be that we have to give up thinking about ourselves and our problems for a while to focus on Him.

Sometimes we think we have to compartmentalize our devotions into reading, confessing, praising, and requesting. There is nothing wrong with that, but we can also let the confessing, praising and requesting flow as we read. When we come to a verse about an attribute of God or a promise, we can praise Him for it right then reflecting back to Him what His Word says. In fact, there is a Hebrew word that can be translated “confession,” “praise,” or “thanksgiving.” When we confess our sin, we say the same thing about it God does. So, too, when we praise Him, we say the same things about Him that His Word does, and as we do, we come to know Him as He truly is, love Him more, and align ourselves more closely with what He wants us to be.

Sometimes it helps to take a break in our usual routine and spend time is the Psalms or in favorite passages or in a Bible study book or do a word study we’ve been wanting to do.

Proverbs 27:7 says, ”The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.” Sometimes we are too full of other things to hunger after God’s Word as we should. We can ask Him to show us what “junk food” we’ve been filling our souls with so we can replace it with His truth, and to create a hunger in us for Him.

Above all, I think, we shouldn’t wait until we’re “feeling” more “devoted” to sit down with the Bible. A former pastor of ours once said that one of his best times of prayer occurred when the last thing he felt like doing was praying, but he went ahead and just started out by confessing that to the Lord. Somehow in the process the Lord melted his heart. As I mentioned in the beginning, just going back through some verses I had just read and asking the Lord to forgive me and quicken me opened them up to me in a new way, and my heart was completely different afterward than it was the first time through.

In John 6:63 Jesus said, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” It is His very Word that the Holy Spirit uses to quicken us. The last thing we need to do when we’re feeling low spiritually is to avoid the Bible. That’s exactly what we need to revive us.

Majestic Sweetness Sits Enthroned

Posted on June 30, 2007 by Barbara Harper

This hymn was one of the favorites of a dear former pastor, Jesse Boyd (for whom our Jesse was named). Pastor Boyd has been with the Lord for several years now. I hadn’t thought about this hymn in a long time, but the other night I had the Christian radio station on late, and someone sang a few lines from it during a sermon. I was only going to post a few of the verses I was familiar with, but as I read these over, I don’t see how I can leave any out. But I think among my favorites are stanzas 4 and 5. You can find a MIDI version of the tune here.

Majestic Sweetness Sits Enthroned

Words by Samuel Stennett, 1787
Music by Thomas Hastings

Majestic sweetness sits enthroned
Upon the Savior’s brow;
His head with radiant glories crowned,
His lips with grace o’erflow,
His lips with grace o’erflow.

To Christ, the Lord, let every tongue
Its noblest tribute bring
When He’s the subject of the song,
Who can refuse to sing?
Who can refuse to sing?

Survey the beauties of His face,
And on His glories dwell;
Think of the wonders of His grace,
And all His triumphs tell,
And all His triumphs tell.

No mortal can with Him compare
Among the sons of men;
Fairer is He than all the fair
Who fill the heav’nly train,
Who fill the heav’nly train.

He saw me plunged in deep distress
And flew to my relief;
For me He bore the shameful cross
And carried all my grief,
And carried all my grief.

His hand a thousand blessings pours
Upon my guilty head:
His presence gilds my darkest hours,
And guards my sleeping bed,
And guards my sleeping bed.

To Him I owe my life and breath
And all the joys I have;
He makes me triumph over death
And saves me from the grave,
And saves me from the grave.

To Heav’n, the place of His abode,
He brings my weary feet;
Shows me the glories of my God,
And makes my joys complete,
And makes my joys complete.

Since from His bounty I receive
Such proofs of love divine,
Had I a thousand hearts to give,
Lord, they should all be Thine,
Lord, they should all be Thine.

I made some cards…

Posted on June 30, 2007 by Barbara Harper

I spent part of the afternoon making a few cards to use as thank you notes for those who had a major part on the Ladies’ Luncheon (forgive me for talking about that so much — it has been a major part of my life the last few weeks. 🙂 ) Anyway — I enjoy seeing other people’s crafts, cards, etc., so I thought I’d post these here. I’m still pretty amateur, though! I saw a link from Barb’s to Sentiments By Denise. Now she makes some beautiful cards!!

I noticed when I was was searching on Flickr that there wasn’t a group for hand made cards — so I ventured out and created one called Creative Cards. If you make cards, please join up!