THANKFUL TO BE A MOM

We have added six more grandchildren since this picture was taken 2 1/2 years ago.  Now another sweet baby is on the way.

God has blessed me with eight wonderful children, seven loving son/daughter-in-laws, and twenty-five (soon to be twenty-six) lively grandchildren.  Mother’s Day is always a delightful day for me.  As thirty-seven of our family and friends gathered at our house this past Sunday, I thought about how very rich I am and how thankful I am to God for His goodness to me.

As I write this blog, Mark and I are halfway to Washington, DC on the first leg of our trip to Wittenberg, Germany to attend a conference celebrating the 500th year since the Reformation began.  I’m looking forward to hearing many godly men preach and to glean all I can from them.  Surely, no one can come to an end of growing in the understanding and application of the key verse of the Reformation--“The righteous shall live by faith.”  Romans 1:17

THE UNIVERSAL DEEPEST NEED

"In these days of social unrest there are plenty of voices round us that proclaim other needs as being clamant, but, oh, they are all shallow and on the surface as compared with the deepest need of all: and the men that come round the sick-bed of humanity and say, ‘Ah, the patient is suffering from a lack of education,’ or ‘the patient is suffering from unfavorable environment,’ have diagnosed the disease superficially. There is something deeper the matter than that, and unless the physician has probed further into the wound than these surface appearances, I am afraid his remedy will go as short a way down as his conception of the evil goes.
Oh, brethren, there is something else the matter with us than ignorance or unfavorable conditions. ‘The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.’ The tap-root of all human miseries lies in the solemn fact of human transgression. That is a universal fact. Wide differences part us, but there is one thing that we have all in common: a conscience and a will that lifts itself against disliked good. Beneath all surface differences of garb there lies the same fact, the common sickness of sin. The king’s robe, the pauper’s uniform, the student’s gown, the mill-hand’s fustian, the naked savage’s brown skin, each cover a heart that is evil, and because it is evil, needs salvation from sickness and deliverance from danger... But on the Cross, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, bore the weight of the world’s sin, yours and mine and every man’s. There is one security against the danger; and it is that He, fronting the incidence of the Divine law, says, as He said to His would-be captors in the garden, ‘If ye seek Me, let these go their way.’ And they go their way by the power of His atoning death.."  Alexander Maclaren

Oh, yes--good thoughts as we study together the incredible book of Jude this coming Thursday morning.  Plan to be present for our last time until fall and then join us at my house for lunch.  Bring along your favorite lunch item to share with everyone and we will enjoy a wonderful time together. 
 

RETHINKING HOSPITALITY

As I have been studying 3 John this week and the subject of hospitality, my mind has been broaden beyond the usual context we think of concerning this character quality that the Bible so often speaks about.  Of course, understanding its true meaning to be "love of strangers," in itself makes us think twice about whether we are truly hospitable.  But, beyond that it seems that hospitality is often associated with having people into our homes.  I'm thinking we need to realize it goes way beyond that to a way of life that continually loves everyone we meet--everywhere.  Is not my chatting with a 3 year old grandson as much hospitality as providing a delicious meal for guests in my home?  Is not welcoming with open arms those I don't know at church, also hospitality?  How about greeting cheerfully those I see in public places, whether I know them or not? 

"If you are a Christian professor, either Christ is glorified or put to shame in you, His saint; and either it is true of you that you do all things in the Name of the Lord Jesus and so glorify His Name, or that through you the Name of Christ is ‘blasphemed among the nations.’ Choose which of the two it shall be!"  Alexander MacLaren

Let's encourage one another in this valuable Christian quality this Thursday morning as we study 3 John.