Just So stories

God's Boys will be good boys!

Test taking and Driving Safely!

God's Boys will be good boys I have a test this morning mother, please Pray! I will dear son. Don't let that distract you from driving, if you would? Do we ever really listen to each-other's entreaties. We love each-other and I will pray and you will drive safely, won't you?

Praise God for other's concerned on our behalf and please bless each of the dear teachers and administrators who are pouring themselves into my child for his benefit, long-term

In Lew of Arguing...

God's Boys will be good boys!

I'll light the fire, You place the flowers in the vase that you bought today!

Where did that 6 dollars go? That was the argument in Life with Father and life hasn't much changed for a loving couple in that hundred years and probably since the beginning of time.

I grew up with Love American Style, where every conflict and problem was solved only one way. Seals and Crofts reminds us, we are not strangers and this conflict needn't even make us enemies, even for a little while. Let's kiss and make up, in anticipation of our interdependence. I think it a waste of money and you think it a beautification or some other reason. I will try to see your side and you try to see mine.

The Hippie generation seemed to have the right idea somewhat. All you do need is love, sometimes to sort the problems out. It is amazing how the most devout people do the most arguing about the most silly little things. Is that good stewardship?

I think not!

I know that the angels are ministering when I am so together and able to put things together that ordinarily I forget.

God's Boys will be good boys! My example of the efficient, contemporary woman is Aunt Gwen. This trip was Aunt Gwen's example directing me. Some of our trips from the first trip away that we took to this one. I have seen Aunt Gwen, always the perfectly organized packer. She always comes out with something or other unusual that she thought of that others don't think of. This time, it was as thought Aunt Gwen said to me bring your own coffee, there are no real coffee places in that "coffee forsaken" land. You will be annoyed at that. I packed the coffee in a ziplock and my creamer in another ziplock. What hotel doesn't have brew it yourself coffee? I had just gotten a coffee cup from the "food-place" I brought that just in case there was a problem with the coffee.

Sure enough, when we got to the hotel, I opened the coffee maker and there was some white yucky stuff in it. Ginger's example of teaching me to quick brew my own and Aunt Gwen's example of being a forethinking careful for self comforts that can become a real distraction in emotions when you are at the end of your rope. I am thankful for the women who have shown me that.

I hope that you can be a man whose masculinity can still appreciate some of the little things that women share with eachother that can become a strong family bond and comfort in some of the moments of anxiety that could take people to the edge or draw them back from the precipices. There are unspoken love languages that women pass from generation to generation. The silence of what older sisters show to their younger sisters in their examples of how they keep it together amidst the love and concern that they have for each one of the younger children in the family. Are we able to juggle love of parents, love of siblings, love of husband and wives and love of children in one limited heart? God gives us many others in life to show us how to juggle these battling priorities.

It seems that a man's mission in part is nurturing a family where the loves can be demonstrated and passed on to the next generation, without shame. This is hard. Travelling to Chowan gave us time to reminisce in our demeanor the people before us, who we got to see let their children go that far away. We are always growing.

Philippians 4:5-7

God's Boys will be good boys!

Be Anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, let your request be made known unto God...

Lord, I request not to be anxious. I pray for the peace of God on my soul. I pray for the encouragement of Christ on my life.

Unfortunately, some folks are given to the difficulty of chronic anxiety, sometimes for a season and sometimes for their entire lives. David often spoke in clear anxiety in the Psalms. He was a believer. We cast those cares upon the Lord and He will uphold us, we know. Sometimes we slip and He will pick us up. We will trust You, Lord.

Thanks for praying with me this morning, EN!.

Elements of the Multicultural Soul!

God's Boys will be good boys!

Praise God, to the utmost. My Soul exults in the Lord.

Mother, why do you praise in different accents? Who is that West Indian Woman that we see, every once in a while, in praise?

I am so glad you asked, dear young man. Are you mocking, people or praise, Mother? No, my son. I must hide parts of my soul, for decorum's sake. The first parts of my life, my father tried to crush any semblance of the West Indian woman who is a great part of my soul. He saw her and waged his greatest war against her. In marriage, I have stifled any semblance of her to learn, what I consider the more humble and quiest "Southern Culture" that I married into. But in praise and worship, she creeps out and loves the Lord with all of her soul and she is the abandon of praise that was David's part when the ark was brought back into the camp. I will become more undignified than this, for my Jesus.

Don't be like Eli, who misjudged Hannah's devotion to God for being a drunkard. He missed God's presence for the entirety of his life. 20+ years after this was a punishment for sinning without restraint, in the "supposed" presence of God. You will know His presence and you will know His absence. I pray that you will pursue His presence in fullness of joy and reality and not in "form or fashion". Live under the public rules of decorum, but be true in Christ's presence and Christ will be true in your life.

What a great match, this year's Wimbledon Final?

God's Boys will be good boys!

Thank God that we live in a day where the mental acumen and physical prowess of the Jousters is expressed in less fatal sports than at earlier times. Should one of those two Djok or Fed had to lose his life to prove his betterment of the other, what a loss that would be! Now it is not to the death, although sudden death is the tie breaker name. It is to the extent of your strength. Not until you have spent 3 or 4 hours with another in a match of whits and physics one on one do you appreciate the knowledge of yourself you gain and the knowledge of the other. You hate yourself at times, you hate your limitations, you hate your misteps to get to that point and you admire someone sometimes, that should be your enemy. How did he get that back? I thought I had him there? What will he think of next? Admiring thoughts, among the commitment to vanquish him, at last. What a dilemma of soul and mind?

It is as though someone gives you both a big ball of knotted wool and tells you to make a ball out of it, together. Where is the end of the string? How can we do this without cutting?

To think that in nearly 4 hours, 6 points and 2 double faults would stand between a Federer and his tremendous goal. That is a sharpening. 5 double faults in 4 hours and 3 double faults in 4 hours, in front of millions of people? What a concentration of mind to accomplish? Sometimes you toss the ball and someone coughs or something and you can’t get back into the game for 10 or 15 minutes. The wind or the look on the other person’s face could catch your attention, maybe. Not those men. They are focused beyond belief. 6 points meant they each had intention to win. 180-186 at the right moments the points were exacted out to Djokovic’s favor. Not an accident. Certainly, not luck. Perhaps there was a lucky looking shot here and there. Superior target practice against an equal opponent sharpening the minds of all who watched and certainly of the participants.

I would wish that each of them could take pen and paper and write what they learned from that sort of emotional entanglement with oneanother and how they would never want to do that again and yet they would never forget the respect that they gained for eachother in the battle and that secretly in their heart of hearts they are hoping the Open will have the same final in it so that they can perfect their craft and prove their greater superiority to the other than they were able to in that match.

I am so glad that it wasn’t about Andy this year. I loved the historic aspect of last year’s match, but I love the vicious human cycle that was in this year’s.

Did it take me too long to ask?

God's Boys will be good boys! I've been done, nearly a month already and you just ask me? I was concerned, I just left well enough alone, when it comes to grades. Congrats on a year well spent and grades that show that your efforts are not in vain. I am grateful for all of your help this year and hope that you know how grateful we are for you., Love, MOM

Happy 20th Birthday

God's Boys will be good boys!

Remembering tools that we've been blessed with to Grow in Grace.

This is a link to John Owen's Mortification of Sin

What a great reminder it was to visit a church with likeminded brethren. Not better than other churches, but clearer in it's disemination, I would say. It really helped me to see that God, through His providence has made us like the sniffing dogs, who dig into the ground to find something that is a treasure.

Pastor Agnew was also very familiar with some of the treasures that we have enjoyed. He reminded us of a story from Pastor Martin and what a young upstart he was, as we all were. The wonderful way that God used Pastor Martin to chop alot of us down to size. John Owen was a hatchet for our pride, though we very often broke the hatchet, many times, before it broke us. I loved that we learned that we cannot come to God in pride and holding onto those "darling lusts" as Pastor Martin would call them. We could see our sin right in front of us. Hack as we might into our sins, they seemed to rise up higher.

We will not get to heaven without some of them. We will be bloodied and battered trying to mortify them, but they are not going anywhere. We were not deceived into thinking that we were so new that we wouldn't still be struggling with sin as we grow in grace. The grace that we enjoy in this life is to help us to put to death the deeds of the flesh. We can't do this on our own accord. We can't do this without the Spirit's assistance and using all of the the tools that God has bestowed upon us. If we don't use the tools of prayer and God's means of Grace (manifold) we won't enjoy any victory in this life.

We do so live below our privilege in fellowship with God. We enjoy so little of His attendance upon us and He has given us so much to seek Him with. I do hope that you will take full advantage of the means of John Owen and use it to spiritually "shower your soul" for God's glory.

Easter Sunday

What a dear boy, he looks like! George

What are you reading with such intensity? I have to know what is in that, seems to say.

Tremendous curiosity, great insight and determination should be challenged with puzzles of opening and closing types. Open the box, open the cup and find the hidden object. Pointing out hidden delights in the paper puzzles that one might get. Hand play of tangrams, I do love. Even if he can’t do them himself. Doing it in front of him will challenge his thirst for knowledge. Easter egg hunt is probably so delightful and sweet for this little face.

Where did it go? Even though Hans is too deep for little ones. I would read it to him, just for the greatness of the language and the great depth to know this man as a dear friend through literature. Poems and Nursery Rhymes, notwithstanding, don’t miss even one nursery rhyme they are all a part of the puzzle that we are working together. They are our unified heritage and they should not be neglected, for silliness. The best of all is Mr. Rogers. He is not soft. He is gentle. For strength, there should be powerful preaching. I would never let a royal child grow up without hearing the powerful voice of Sam Waldron. There is absolutely no greater preaching voice that I have heard, although his content is lacking for his greatness of education now. The old stuff is better. But he must hear him live. There is place for both the Mr. Rogers and the Mr Waldron in a kingdom. He must learn to find his own style of public speaking and decorum through having choices and watching. Like a sport.

Pretend that you are in front of everyone. Pretend that you are a tennis star. Pretend that you are a basketball star. Pretend that you are a streetsweeper. All in due time and play and now be who and what you are. Let us take up the broom and help mommy. Let us go and shoot the hoops. Let us learn to be first real before God and then build what God has given us to govern. First ourselves and then others and not visa versa.

We mistakenly prioritize the outside world. We insist, don’t embarrass me. How can we be more embarrassed than to be born in the spotlight? This is still a pitfall. Not a Saul. He is not a choice for us in the grace of Christ. Christ died that this person would not be a part of the kingdom of God. Keeping a pure heart and making King David as real as you can, is the best remedy. See the men of God dance before the Lord and dance before Him yourself, in private, if you cannot in public. God loves to inhabit the praises of His people. God loves a cheerful giver. Giving Him the praise that He is due is the most important lesson to teach in childhood. He will take care of the rest.

a link to Sermons by Pastor Sam God's Boys will be good boys!

God's Boys will be good boys!

a link to Pastor Chanski's Abraham sermon

A breathtaking sight to see the wonder of a grown and healthy young man. Truly there is little else that can draw out affection of such depth as to see one who you longed to see growing healthily into adulthood. How carefully and wonderfully woven the sight of this youngster coming to church was into the imagination of Abraham having to sacrifice just such an affection on an altar of sacrifice for God. I love how Pastor Chanski emotionally brought you in, or how God wove the coming of this one to church as if to give light to a possibly dull subject for the constant hearing. The love that Pastor Chanski had for him came through in the break down.

Seeing this boy is breathtaking, he said. And then he prayed asking God to give him ability beyond himself to help us see. God came through big time, I’d say. It seems that the familiarity of the passage to have been studied, notwithstanding. God wanted to show us something of the depth of his affection for “His own” that came through so clearly and blessed my soul enormously. Jesus paid it all.

Deepak Chopra?

God's Boys will be good boys! What college is is an opportunity to explore the world of thinking, unchaperoned. That is a great opportunity to use your own reasoning as formed and founded in the scriptures and family traditions to make your mark on the world. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. The warfare is not avoidance of untoward creeds and thought, but developing the tools of thought to overcome them, by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony...

Arise my soul arise, shake off thy guilty fears...

Enjoy the mental challenge of taking captivity captive, in your own mind and then teach others to do the same. Happy sword fighting.