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    Reformed Theology and JOY

    Challies pointed to a great article that I encourage you to check out: The Joy of the Reformed It reminded me of a prayer request that one of our church members made during a concert of prayer last year … She thanked God for the many blessings we enjoy in our church—Christ-centered preaching, the sacraments, servant headship by our leaders, corporate worship, genuine fellowship. But then she also prayed for all of us, individually, in our families, and in our church, that we would have joy. Her prayer request has stuck with me and I think about it a lot. Some days I feel like so many of us are…

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    Saturating Bleeding

    I debated not sharing this publicly because, well, I am truly embarrassed at what a high-maintenance person I am. Ergh! Some days it really feels like poor Freddy B. really married a bit of a lemon wifey. But I know that many of you pray for me and for my family—and I would appreciate your prayers because, just like last summer’s RIGHT knee surgery, my after-SIMPLE-surgery-wound-care that SHOULD be “change the bandaids in a couple of days” has morphed into saturating blood in the night. Poor Fred had to deal with removing everything that was soaked with blood, re-wrap the knee, and then strip our linens and head to our…

  • Relationships & Peacemaking

    Family Feuds (HT: CCEF and Peacemaker Ministries)

    Thanks to the great people over at Peacemaker Ministries for posting a link to this CCEF article by Tim Lane: Family Feuds: How to Respond The whole article is worth your read, but here is my favorite paragraph: “Often when we have a bad experience (like growing up in an abusive family), we let that experience define us and become our identity. But when you come to Jesus in faith he gives you his life and a whole new identity as a child of God. Of course you are still shaped by your experience, but you are not defined by it. Your identity is no longer determined by your family…

  • Grace in Daily Life

    We Cannot Encourage Ourselves

    This morning, I specifically asked Fred to make statements of TRUTH to me to help remind me of what I really DO believe (even when my emotions are to the contrary). Encouragement? Faith’s Fight Against Sin? Battling Unbelief? All things that are not meant to be experienced alone. (We really cannot encourage ourselves.) In that vein, here is something to encourage you, my dear blog friends … yet another wonderful RZIM Slice by Jill Carattini: Christmas Is Coming Consider just an excerpt: “According to Shern, we are instead stressed at the approach of Christmas because of finances, because of family, because of the absence of family, because of over indulgence,…

  • Relationships & Peacemaking

    Too Many Lauries and Too Few Pastors (HT: Andree Seu)

    My post from yesterday about The Peacemaking Pastor being offered on Amazon for only $6.40 (!!) reminded me of an article I read by Andree Seu in last month’s World Magazine: Message from Morocco: Relationship-Building is the Task Overarching the To-Do List In it, she talks about receiving a call from a woman who is concerned about another woman who has three kids under six and is pregnant and is “exhibiting behavior reminiscent of the woman who drove her children into a lake some years ago.” The caller asked Andree for the pastor’s phone number because, well, “Evidently the pastor must be called into this because, well, everybody else is…

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    Odds N Ends (Some Very Odd …)

    It’s 5AM and I’m avoiding the complete, 100%, bad as it’s ever been, CHAOS of my office. (MUST clean it one of these days. It’s giving me the heebeejeebies.) AND I’m avoiding the mounting pile of “must respond to them one of these days” emails that also are starting to freak me out a little. (It’s really not like me to fail to respond to emails for MONTHS. Yeeps.) So here is a little hodge-podge of topics for (hopefully) your reading pleasure (and to help me avoid work for a few more minutes). (Oh. That reminds me … I’m accompanying our church’s choir again this year for the Christmas Eve…

  • Hope in Suffering

    Jake and Big Ten Games and Hating Cancer

    I said to myself, “I won’t cry. Of course I won’t cry.” (Yeah, right.) Watch. Enjoy. What a special kid. (And see if you can get through it without asking yourself how YOU would respond if you had to prepare yourself for blindness. How would you handle waking up one day KNOWING that by the end of that day, you would never see anything again in this life?) It was definitely worth the watch. Plus, I feel even more bonded to my sports-lovin’-hubby who just yesterday discovered the Hulu Big Ten’s Greatest Basketball Games Channel. We’re really hoping to catch a shot or two of him in the BAND. BTW—once…

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    Thankful for a Cow

    I don’t know how you handle the barrage of “please send money!” emails / mailings / calls that come this time of year. Every year. But I’ve really been trying to pray for wisdom to know what to: – Toss without even opening. (I must admit that this is my inclination because we try to faithfully give every month to the ministries we think we should, and dramatic end-of-year appeals tend to annoy me, not motivate me to give.) – Forward/leave out for Fred with a, “Can we? Should we? How much can we help?” request to even consider giving. – Give on the spot. (Sometimes, I just think, “Oh!…

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    Need to Get Right with the Lord

    I received a sweet email today from someone from my past who reconnected with me because of my blog, and I thought one of you might be even a tiny bit encouraged by my response to her. She talked in her email about “needing to get right with the Lord” and how my blog has helped her to remember that even the people who can SEEM like they have such happy (“perfect”) lives, struggle too. Here is my (edited / identifying information removed / slightly altered to hide some facts) reply: It’s so nice to hear from you! I’m very glad that my blog is even a tiny encouragement to…