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.