Tag Archives: R.C. Sproul

Old and New, Past and Present

On Thursday, reading along through the Bible using Paul Tripp’s, Everyday Gospel, A Daily Devotional Connecting Scripture to All of Life, we came to Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. This year the Bible that I’m using for my daily morning reading is the Church History Study Bible, Voices from the Past ~ Wisdom for the Present.

Unlike in other study Bibles, the notes in the ESV Church History Study Bible have not been written by editors. Instead, the notes have been compiled by a team of biblical scholars and church historians. The actual contributors of the notes are a varied group, stretching back from the first and second centuries and reaching forward to the twentieth century. These are theologians, pastors, poets, laity, all offering their perspective on God’s Word. In the ESV Church History Bible we escape the tyranny of the present to see the wisdom from the past. 

In the introduction to Malachi this prayer by John Calvin (1509-1564) from his conclusion to his final lecture on Malachi was printed:

Grant, Almighty God, to help us onward in the course of faith, that we may strive to profit more from the helps that you have provided for us, so that the Law, the prophets, the voice of John the Baptist, and especially the doctrine of your only-begotten Son may more fully awaken us, that we may not hasten to him but also proceed constantly in our course and persevere in it until we shall at length obtain the victory and the crown of our calling, as you have promised us an eternal inheritance in heaven to all who faint not but wait for the coming of the great Redeemer. Amen. 

I wanted to mark this significant day of completing the Old Testament and moving forward into the New Testament with Calvin’s meaningful prayer and another quote by R.C. Sproul.

Have you read the Bible through from Genesis to Revelation? It is a good journey to take.

After posting, we heard of Voddie Baucham being called up to heaven yesterday. Another heralder of the truth is absent from our midst. Absent from earth but present with Our LORD.

Have a great Friday and last weekend of September!

More or Less Hodgepodge

My sister Vera, Me, and sister Kathy on the couch with our mom in the kitchen above us.

Joyce has some new questions for Wednesday Hodgepodge this week even with a house full!

1. What was your after school routine like when you were a kid?

To get home from the bus stop without getting jumped. (Okay…that only happened once) I made someone mad at school and they announced they would be jumping me at the bus stop after school. They had their own gang group of friends that were all excited to gather and watch this happen. Instead of getting off at my regular bus stop, I quickly jumped off the bus at the stop before my regular stop and ran home!

Growing up there really wasn’t a routine. Mostly we were on our own to fill the time before dinner.

2. January 26 is National Green Juice Day ( I guess it’s true everything really does have it’s day). Do you juice, as in make your own in an attempt to get healthy? Do you do the green juices? What’s your favorite kind of juice (home blended or store bought, either one)? 

No, nope and nyet to green juices!

A favorite juice is fresh squeezed orange juice. I enjoy cranberry and pink grapefruit, also.

3. What’s something trivial about which you have a strong opinion? 

Green juice! LOL!

4. What do you need more of in your life? Less of? 

More of…

Less of…following my own heart.

5. Give us three adjectives to describe your January.

Jubilant ~ Joyous ~ Devoted

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

We ventured to Spokane on Saturday to return an item to Lowe’s and do some other shopping. On our way home we stopped at our usual spot in Deer Park and were met with this special of the day.

We decided to try it and it was good. I had the soup of the day, Beet Soup, as my side and it was delicious.

The Merry Month of May Hodgepodge

Our first Wednesday Hodgepodge in the Merry Month of May. Thank you to Jo for asking the questions.

1. What’s something you ‘may’ do this month? 

Our church is having an auction of many items donated by our congregation to raise money for special projects our missionaries need support with. I just may bid on something at the auction. One item I’ve seen already is an English Tea for 8 guests put on in your home. That sounds like fun.

And…maybe I’ll refill our hanging baskets with some fresh potting soil and flowers.

2. Last time you literally or figuratively shouted mayday!? 

During the event we were in charge of a few weeks ago I shouted quietly to my right hand man (Dear) to grab something, lend a hand, or run to the store. Mayday! Mayday!

3. Let the chips fall where they may, come what may, maybe, Cape May, mayflies, devil may care, you may now kiss the bride,  much to our dismay, mayhem, mayonnaise…choose a ‘may’ word or phrase from the list and tell us how it relates to your life in some way right now. 

In the current climate of our world (and any time) it’s a comfort to believe in Almighty God who holds our future in His hands so I’ll say, ‘come what may’. And may we be prepared by drawing closer and closer to Him for whatever comes our way.

4. If someone were serving you breakfast in bed this weekend, what would you like to see on the menu?

Something easy to deal with in bed. A nice egg scramble with veggies and ham served in a croissant with strawberries on the side and a big cup of black coffee.

5. Tell me one true thing you believe about motherhood. 

That God uses motherhood to make us more like Christ and to help us understand His love for us.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!

Looking Back…

… to a time and place where we were able to head out at the last minute to a nearby “Happy Hour” with lots of good choices (2012 at the Beach House). Sigh.

Also looking back at early morning walks at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura (2009).

We are wondering what we can substitute for our cancelled trip to Great Britain. Time will tell. Maybe a new recliner. Haha!

We are getting summer heat this week getting hotter everyday with the highest temps expected on Thursday and Friday, 101 degrees. We’ll head south to do our Spokane shopping on thursday since it doesn’t make sense to work outside on the shop or in the yard in that heat.

Cooling off just looking at these beach scenes.

Looking back, living today and looking forward to the future I will rejoice.

Came across this quote from R.C. Sproul:

“Our calling isn’t to follow our hearts. Our calling is to have our hearts informed and directed by the clear and plain teaching of the Word of God.”

I Know Whom I Have Believed ~ Hymn

I Know Whom I Have Believed

I know not why God’s wondrous grace
To me He hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love
Redeemed me for His own.

Refrain

But I know whom I have believèd,
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day.

I know not how this saving faith
To me He did impart,
Nor how believing in His Word
Wrought peace within my heart.

Refrain

I know not how the Spirit moves,
Convincing us of sin,
Revealing Jesus through the Word,
Creating faith in Him.

Refrain

I know not what of good or ill
May be reserved for me,
Of weary ways or golden days,
Before His face I see.

Refrain

I know not when my Lord may come,
At night or noonday fair,
Nor if I walk the vale with Him,
Or meet Him in the air.

Refrain

Words: Daniel W. Whittle, 1883.

ht: Cyberhymnal 1996.

Click here to read the story behind this wonderful hymn.

I’m adding the Russian lyrics, also.

Не знаю, почему открыт
Мне благодати дар,
Иль почему спасенья щит
Мне дан от вечных кар.

Припев

Но я знаю, в Кого я верю,
Ничто меня с Христом не разлучит;
И Он мне спасенье вручит
В день, когда опять придет.

Не знаю, как мой Бог дает
Мне веры слух живой.
И как та вера мир несет
Скорбящему душой.

Припев

Не знаю я, как Дух Святой
К греху внушает страх,
И как дает Христос благой
Прощение в грехах.

Припев

Не знаю я, что в жизни мне
Назначено нести,
И как меня к родной стране
Бог хочет довести.

Припев

Не знаю времени, ни дня,
Когда Господь придет,
Иль как чрез смерть иль Сам меня
В тот день Он позовет.

Припев

The Rotary Trail

I showed you our peeps. I showed you the birds. Here are the general views on the Colville Dominion Meadows Rotary Trail.

 

Is this our first moose sighting in Colville? It’s only a silhouette. I think I need one for my back acres. Or maybe a bear…

Just to prove I was on the walk here’s my shadow of me in my hat!

The last shot I took on our way back to our cars.

Now all I need to do is to drag Dear out early in the morning to walk this trail with me before he gets carried away with working on his shop!!

Here we go into another week. We are in a very rainy pattern in our neck of the woods. We head to Spokane this week for my follow-up appointment from my surgery last year. It was cancelled in March because of COVID-19 but now they are ready to have me come in. Dear will have to wait in the car instead of coming in with me.

Have a great week everyone!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

If you are visiting from the A to Z Challenge please scroll down below Wednesday Hodgepodge. Cheers!
From this Side of the Pond. 

1. Has spring sprung in your part of the world? How can you tell? Did March come in like a lion where you live? Going out like a lamb or something more ferocious?

March is definitely going out like a lion. I was in Southern California for the beginning of March and it was calm enough except for the escalating worries over COVID-19. Panic shopping and hoarding had begun. In our part of Northeastern Washington Spring comes slowly. We see some green poking up and there are buds forming on some bushes. Our best sign of Spring is our granddaughter who was born on the first day of Spring in 2017.

She’s busy with Spring clean-up!

2. The last thing that caused you to spring to your feet?

Springing to my feet might be a thing of the past but something that made me get up as fast as I could to my feet was our grandson. We have a room at our country bungalow that has been designated as the playroom. It is one of our guest rooms so it has a queen size bed and two nightstands and a dresser and bookshelf besides some toys. I was reading to our granddaughter (sitting properly on the floor as per her instruction) when I saw grandson had walked around the bed to the flimsy lightweight nightstand and the lamp was tottering. I shifted Addy off my lap and got up as fast as I could which is hard from a sitting on the floor position. I got to him in time and moved him away. I then put a sturdy chair in front of the nightstand to block his access to it. Tragedy averted. Next time we are playing in there I will be prepared by moving the chair to block that nightstand forthwith.

For those of you Hodgepodgers who don’t regularly follow my blog, this is our grandson who was born in April of 2019 which is one of the best things that happened during the Hodgepodge hiatus since September of 2018. His older sister just turned 3 and he will turn 1 on April 16th with no huge 1st birthday party because of the virus. He won’t care but it’s tough on the adults in his life.

3. Do you have a spring clean to-do list? What’s one chore on the list you’ve already managed to accomplish? What spring clean chore do you most dread?

I do not have a Spring clean to-do list. We go with the flow.

We managed a good head start on cleaning up our fall brush pile and getting the yard ready for Spring growth. Using my hedge trimmer to clean up leftover dead growth around the former pond and throwing everything on the burn pile was very satisfying.

This winter we had a huge amount of branches and pine cones fall from all of our trees in the front yard. We finished picking up those branches along with some of the cones and they went on the burn pile, too.

I’m not dreading any Spring cleaning chore because I don’t have a big list of things I only do in the Spring. Should I make a list? Maybe I should clean out my closets and drawers??

4. Tell us something you’ve learned about yourself or the wider world as a result of social distancing/the virus crisis.

I’ve learned that concentrating is harder these days. Even though I don’t feel like I’m anxious the uncertainty of where this is all going is unsettling. I’m a person who can get a lot accomplished if I have an incentive like a dinner party, or a trip coming up, or company coming to stay. There’s none of that kind of planning right now so one day just flows into another and my concentration has gone out the window. Hodgpodge helps and blogging helps and having my music on helps, and listening to sermons online helps, too. By the way y’all today is Wednesday just in case you were wondering. Anyone else having to ask, “what day is today?”

5. Something you love that’s the color pink?

My Lenten Rose (Hellebore) that I had to leave behind at our former home in Kenmore. It brought me such joy year after year when it would bloom during the season of Lent. Speaking of leaving things behind, here are my pink rhoddys that I hope are still thriving in Kenmore.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Some good quotes from trusted authors/pastors/Bible that I’ve read this week:

“Faith is not a power which you possess to create your own future. Faith is a God-given ability to trust the future that God has promised you.”~ John MacArthur

“Because of Christ, death is not final. It is a passage from one world to the next.” ~ R.C. Sproul

“Judas heard all Christ’s sermons.” ~ Thomas Goodwin

“Bene orasse est bene studuisse” To have prayed well is to have studied well. ~ Luther

Proverbs 3:25, 26(ESV) ~ Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.

Linking up with Joyce at From This Side of the Pond for Wednesday Hodgepodge. I’ll add the direct link on Wednesday.

An Adoring Hodgepodge

1. Where have you found unexpected magic or delight this holiday season?

See collage above. We decided last Friday night to take a quick trip to northeastern Washington state to see our kids who can’t make the trip to be with us on Christmas day. It was worth the drive to enjoy the day and a half and to see all Addy’s new skills and expressions and to enjoy time and meals with her fabulous parents.

The other delight for me is sitting in view of the Christmas tree with it’s lights on and enjoying Christmas music.

2. What’s your favorite type of holiday gathering? Will you/have you gathered in your favorite way this month?

Gatherings that include good food and Christian fellowship are my favorite. Besides my immediate family gatherings on Christmas Eve and Christmas day my favorite is our annual Christmas gathering with the Mennonite Girls and our husbands. The only thing that would make it even better is if our Manitoba girls could fly in for the party.

3. Time has named ‘The Silence Breakers’ (women who came forward with stories of harassment)  ‘person of the year’ for 2017. Would you agree? If not, who do you think deserves the title?

I’ll consider the source for this yearly announcement and honor in giving my opinion. I don’t expect high standards from “Time” anymore. It really is the season of discontent and finding fault in our nation. I don’t discredit women who have suffered harassment. I hope women in the future will be able to speak up boldly as it happens and not hold onto the grief for years.

Who I think deserve the title this year are Firefighters and other First Responders who have come to the aid of so many during hurricanes and wild fires, sacrificing their own lives!

Then from a Christian perspective I’d have R.C. Sproul on the cover, the founder of Renewing Your Mind, who went to be with His Lord this past week. He was a faithful servant and teacher of God’s Truth.

Renewing Your Mind is an outreach of Ligonier Ministries, an international Christian discipleship organization founded in 1971 by Dr. R.C. Sproul. We know that God uses his Word to change lives. In Romans 12:2, Paul tells Christians to “be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” That is our aim. We’re committed to faithfully presenting the unvarnished truth of Scripture, helping you to know what you believe, why you believe, how to live it and how to share it.

4. How did you spend your time this year? Are you happy about that? Elaborate

Accepting and embracing changes that have come to us. Accepting the retirement stage and the reality of what comes with that. Accepting the fact that we will be making a major move across our state next year and preparing for that. Accepting the new aches and pains that come with our stage of life. Embracing our freedom of doing what we want each day without many time restrictions. Totally embracing our new family dynamic with the addition of sweet little Addy into our family. This has been fun from a grandparenting perspective but also amazing to watch our children in a parenting role and our other children in an auntie/uncle nurturing role.

Yes, I am content and happy about it.

5. Bid farewell to 2017 in ten words or less.

Thank you for introducing us to the world of grandparenting.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

As I’m typing this my tree is getting it’s last string of lights so I can start putting the ornaments on it. I’m okay with the delay since our 3 day travel diversion yielded some sweet memories of Addy’s new skills.

We finally figured out her little tongue was feeling a new upper tooth that was trying to pop out.

Yum, unsweetened canned pears from Baba’s and Gramps’ pear tree.

She’s standing a lot more without holding on and still only takes a couple of steps at a time. Walking isn’t far off.

I just want to clap my hands! She really is enjoying clapping.

Thank you to Joyce From This Side of the Pond for asking the questions for Wednesday Hodgepodge! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read my answers.

Yahoo! The tree is finally decorated so soon I’ll have my Mystery Tree post ready to go.