Rebecca had her doctor's appointment on Tuesday. She's creeping back up on the chart. She's still on the small size for her age, but she's a feisty thing in that small package. She gave us all a workout, fighting us, as we were trying to get stats on her. She weighs an even 26 lbs, and is 32.75 inches tall. We talked about her still being a bit bow legged and the in-toeing (almost all of which is her right foot from the knee down). They want me to watch it and re-evaluate in 6 months. We also talked about testing for food allergies, but decided to just test Ruth first, since she is by far the worst of the three kids, and we've done about all we can ourselves to rule out other issues. She's a handful of a two year old.
Lots of snow is outside. We have alot of fun outside. One thing we built was a snowman. Our snowman was named Olaf. First we rolled it, but it didn't work. Then we used a bucket. We put it somewhere in the snow, and Daddy and Momma used the shovel to put the snow in the bucket. Britt and me stomped inside the bucket, to get it flat. Then when it was all flat, then Daddy dumped it on the drive way. We did it three times to make our snowman tall enough.
We made his head with the red bucket. That was terrible, cause it was little, but my head is littler than the rest of my body. Then I found the hair and nose. Britt found the arms. Then we both looked for rocks for his eyes and mouth. Britt and Ruth found them. Momma put that part on. Us give him some warm hugs. Britt tried to move his arms like Elsa in the movie, but Daddy told him he would break them, because it wasn't magic snow like Elsa. I wish us could put some magic on him so he could come alive. And then after all that we went inside for Rebecca's presents and cake with snow cream.
8:26 AM
No random thoughts
Rebecca,
Happy 2nd birthday little girl! How much difference a year makes. You have grown to be more and more and more like me, and now prefer your Daddy mostly. You are a busy body convinced that you are as big as everyone else is. There is nothing that they try that you don't want to try. You trail behind them into any adventure. When they do their school work, you pull out a coloring book and sit with them at the table. You just adore Britt. You enjoy dancing with him, and sneaking into his bed at night. Ruth enjoys having someone to sit and play dolls with. And dolls seem to be your very favorite thing to play with. You are most always rocking or feeding one. You wrap them up in blankets and tuck them in on the couch. You push them around in your stroller and take their shoes on and off.
You started finally talking some the beginning of December, we don't understand alot of it yet, but you will attempt or answer most anything. When you started speaking it was all at once. No, of course remains your favorite word and default answer. Your sing though is just terrible. Oh it's so funny to listen to you. One of your favorites to sing is "Let it Go" and nothing other than the phrase "let it go" and the word "anyway" is understandable, and it's painfully off key; BUT you make up for your lack of talent in ear splitting volume.
You are currently my best eater, though you are getting a bit more picky. Your favorites remain every kind of fruit known to mankind. You have grown alot in height recently. I have had to pack up a few 24mon dresses as too short. I'll be curious to see what the doctor says at your check up on Tuesday.
It has been fun to see your personality develop this year. You have your own ideas and preferences, and don't just go with the flow. You won't hesitate to tell everyone that you aren't going to play that way, or tell them that they have to watch Minnie Mouse now. You are high strung and demanding. And you can't be coaxed into loving on us, but when you decide to give hugs, you give the absolute best hugs. You are more reserved around people that you don't know than Ruth, but not so much as Britt use to be. You take time to warm up, but love to play games when you have. You are your own person, and we love watching you grow. We pray that as you grow that you will grow in grace. Be your own person, but don't be ornery just for the sake of being ornery.
We are looking forward to seeing what the next year brings. We are just beginning to try potty training since you seem interested, and we are planning a few fun "field trips this year". And who know what surprises the next year will hold. No matter what, always know, Daddy and I love you very much.
Love,
Momma
8:53 PM
No random thoughts
Granddaddy made Momma a rocking horse for her first birthday. She has let Britt and Ruth play with it, and just about the time I was big enough Britt had rocked to the point that the neck was getting wobbly. So Grumps and Ahna loaded all of us and the rocking horse up in the car, and carried us to Alabama for a visit back in July. There was just one problem, the rocking horse didn't come back with us.
3:39 PM
No random thoughts
We played in the snow today. Today I found a collectable (that's something you find) I found it in the snow. And I used it in Daddy's shelter from snowballs. I put it in the very top. I called it Point Rock, cause it had a point at the very top.
I threw snow at the basement door outside, because I thought it would be fun. I also built a snowman, but I accidently knocked it down. It didn't even have the head on it yet. Later after that work, Daddy and Ruth and a little bit Rebecca helped build the snowman. He got home before dark today.
Then we had hot cocoa. It was so good. Now we are in the house and typing to you. Today was pretty good. So how was your day? Good?
8:35 PM
No random thoughts
I don't know where to start with your letter this year. Daddy told me just to take that first part and write it in really big font so that it looked bigger and hit print. You Daddy isn't much for meaningful words. You certainly never seem to lack for something to say though. Everyone will tell you that you got that from me, but I have no idea what they are talking about. (smile)
Monday night, after I tucked you in, you asked me to stay and cuddle and talk to you a little bit. I don't give in often enough, but I did that night. We laid there and talked about an hour. You had questions about the natural man and the spiritual man. You asked why we can't hear them in your heart with our ears. You wanted me to explain how can you hear them with your heart. You wanted to know, how to remember to listen to the Holy Spirit even though you are angry and mad, instead of doing what that bad man wants. You asked about Nate and Brooke and Janie and Christopher and if they were doing better. Then you wanted to know how Iron Man's Arc Reactor works. You wanted to know how me and Daddy knew where not to go so that you wouldn't get shrapnel in your heart like Iron Man. You asked why your natural man doesn't want to kill people, but other people's natural man does.
You are always an endless font of questions, but since the sermon on Sunday on temptation you really have been inquisitive. You listened, and nodded and even answered Bro. Jonathan a few times. It's the first time I've seen you really pay attention for the whole time. We've talked alot this year, trying to teach you how to control your attitude. I have learned to reign my own in as a result. We have been learning together. This part of your growth is more endearing and precious than watching you learn to walk or feed yourself. One of the things your Daddy and I most hope to convey to you and your sisters is our love for the Church. We can't born you again, and we can't give you a love for the Old Baptist Church even after you have been born again, but we hope you never doubt our sincere, deep abiding devote to the Lord and His people.
Your love for learning is also something about this age that I just adore. You are really enjoying homeschooling, and I enjoy the privilege of watching as you discover the world. At times it is teaching me greater patience (cause Lord knows I don't have much), we have the greatest trouble over your abysmal writing skills, both letters and numbers. What keeps you going is know that one day you will be even neater than Unca Benji and you can't wait. You are just beginning to blend words, and I'm about to start adding in some sight word, so that you can do some more independent reading. What we both enjoy most though is science. I'm still structuring all of our science around your interest and using everything the library can get in. This year you chose to learn everything about every animal. That order was a little too large for one school year. But, we have been doing biology and ecology, by studying each of the earth's biomes and some of the plants and animals in each one. It is unbelievable to me what you retain.
I was terribly upset this year to lose all our old videos. One True Media went out of business and when I found out that they were closing up shop, it was too late to order our videos. I managed to save some, but can't reconstruct most of them, because I found the original files had become corrupted and I have very little of that video. I've started making our own new videos. It was fun to again pour over old pictures and try to find video. It is so hard to believe that you are now six, I still feel like a kid myself sometimes, and yet it's hard to remember our lives before you kids.
Momma and Daddy love you so much little boy more than you know,
Love,
Momma
11:45 AM
No random thoughts
It's January again, another year has seemingly flown by. Looking over the last year it was a good but busy one. I started thinking about if I wanted to make resolutions a couple of weeks ago or not, and decided I was going to at least set some goals. I mean if we should always try to grow and improve then how can we tell if we've gotten any better unless we evaluate and goal set?
So first I flipped back to last year's resolutions, to see how I did. I wanted to pay down debt and we paid off $26,153.79 though I'm going to say that about $4000 of that was plane flights so I'm not going to count that. I also decided to try to yell less, I don't feel like I did very good in this area. Gary tells me that I'm very patient with the kids, and that my expectations are not unrealistic. But, I don't feel like I have as good a handle on this parenting thing as I would like a year later. I set the goal of attending a homeschool convention, and meet some more people and dive more into the homeschooling world. I did all of those things, infact we did so much of it, that we are scaling back a bit this year. The fourth goal I listed last year was to read the Bible all the way through with the kids on the schedule our Church family was using. We read almost every day together, with the exception of the month the kids were gone to AL and FL. That put us behind. We nearly caught up reading everything but the tail end of the Old Testament. The conversations with the kids were a hoot. The final thing I wanted to do was take some time for me to do something crafty. I can't spend too much time doing things I just feel like doing because I ended up neglecting other responsibilities, but I get a ridiculous martyr complex when I am the ONLY one cleaning, and the ONLY doing school work, and the ONLY one breaking up arguments, and don't do anything just fun for me. I still didn't get the scrapbooks caught up, and I didn't blog as much as I would have liked. But, I did spend alot of time in the flower beds this spring and summer and fall which was something just for me. I also, have started doing a little decorating in my planner, which isn't as good as real scrapbooking, but it is cheery.
So on to this year's resolutions...
So first I flipped back to last year's resolutions, to see how I did. I wanted to pay down debt and we paid off $26,153.79 though I'm going to say that about $4000 of that was plane flights so I'm not going to count that. I also decided to try to yell less, I don't feel like I did very good in this area. Gary tells me that I'm very patient with the kids, and that my expectations are not unrealistic. But, I don't feel like I have as good a handle on this parenting thing as I would like a year later. I set the goal of attending a homeschool convention, and meet some more people and dive more into the homeschooling world. I did all of those things, infact we did so much of it, that we are scaling back a bit this year. The fourth goal I listed last year was to read the Bible all the way through with the kids on the schedule our Church family was using. We read almost every day together, with the exception of the month the kids were gone to AL and FL. That put us behind. We nearly caught up reading everything but the tail end of the Old Testament. The conversations with the kids were a hoot. The final thing I wanted to do was take some time for me to do something crafty. I can't spend too much time doing things I just feel like doing because I ended up neglecting other responsibilities, but I get a ridiculous martyr complex when I am the ONLY one cleaning, and the ONLY doing school work, and the ONLY one breaking up arguments, and don't do anything just fun for me. I still didn't get the scrapbooks caught up, and I didn't blog as much as I would have liked. But, I did spend alot of time in the flower beds this spring and summer and fall which was something just for me. I also, have started doing a little decorating in my planner, which isn't as good as real scrapbooking, but it is cheery.
So on to this year's resolutions...
- Here's my biggest one. I want to be debt free with the exception of our student loans by the end of this year. It's going to be a tough goal, but we've already made plans to see that it happens. First of all, there will be no trips this year. Those cost a ton, and they always go on the CC because we don't have any room in the budget to budget for them. In all honesty, that's a big Dave Ramsey no-no to keep adding new debt, even if it's only every now and then. We have cut back on commitments for travel this year to cut down on our gas expenses, and Gary's found cheaper tv and internet so that we can cut the budget more than before. I'm confident that we can do this, and that it will all be worth it next year.
- Continue to work on yelling less.
- In addition to managing our money better I want to find a better way to manage my time. I don't do good on strict schedules, we've tried doing different things like Managers of the Their Homes and it just doesn't remotely work for us. However, I want to get a handle on some things. I want a habit of always loading Sunday's sermons on Monday for example, and having some time each week that I work on our scrapbooks. I need a set time each week to lesson plan, to stay better on top of things. Right now I sometimes schedule too far in advance and then have trouble making my plans work for me instead of being a slave to the schedule.
- Which brings me to my next point, schooling. I want to scale back this year. We need to spend a little more time at home and a little less time out of the house. When you try to do every cool field trip and opportunity that comes along, the other things get neglected. I want to get the kids a little more involved in helping out around here too, Britt has real surprised me with things that he is beginning to actually be alot of help with. Coupled with both the academic schooling and the home ec type stuff, I want to address some different character issues we've seen crop up.
- This year instead of reading the entire Bible through, Bro. Jonathan has asked us to read more in depth, so rather than trying to read the Bible through I'm going to be reading what he comes up with. However, I've often thought about trying to study things out topically and think maybe I'll be doing more of that this year, this way.
- Finally for the last resolution I'll share, Gary and I want to look for another vehicle. Our SUV has just over 140K miles on it now, and it's cramped. Plus it isn't 4 wheel drive which would be nice up here. Britt is ready for a booster seat, but we still have him in a 5 point harness because there is no way he could buckle up around two other carseats. It's not a problem yet, but he's getting close to the height limit on the seat. We'd like to have more space since no one else can ride with us when they are here, and have a little more luggage room, etc. However, we don't want to pick up new debt to get a vehicle so we are going to be doing some planning and scheming at least for now.
Like always I'm sure I've put more on my plate than I can handle. But at least, I guess I can say I like a challenge. I'm rarely satisfied with the status quo of things.
5:03 PM
No random thoughts
The kids enjoyed having Christmas Elves this year just as much as last year, though Ruth was skeptical as to whether or not they were "real." I always just asked her, well what do you think? I have more pictures in a public album on facebook, but here are some of the highlights of the year, and some pictures of the kids telling them goodbye. Last year, our elves were teaching "teamwork, not fighting, and encouraging good manners." This year the elves periodically brought some Christmas missions with them, and boy was that a big hit. The kids really looked forward to those mission letters. I thought it would be difficult to come up with 24 new ideas, and it was a little, there are a few special ones we might repeat yearly, but for the most part it was alot of fun scouring pinterest and coming up with idea. Working on things like the elves' superhero costumes after the kids were in bed was alot of fun. (If you are wondering how we dressed them up and made them so they could be posed, you can look back here.)
 |
| Day 1, 2014, Christmas Mission get a tree and decorate it. The Elves brought their own. But FIRST the kids had to help clean the house to get everything ready for the tree. |
 |
| Day 2, 2014, Elves fixed morning toothbrushes and reminded everyone to brush their teeth. |
 |
| Day 3, 2014, It took the kids a little while to find them hiding in the Christmas wreath. |
 |
| Day 3, While the kids were gone with Memaw and Mister, someone moved. |
 |
| Day 4, 2014, The Christmas mission was to assemble and decorate the gingerbread house. Our first time to make one. |
 |
| Day 5, 2014, The elves made swings and hung them from the curtain rod. |
 |
| Day 6, 2014, The elves decided to go camping under Ruth and Rebecca's little Christmas tree. |
 |
| Day 7 and 8, 2014, The Elves hung out just waiting for the kids to come home from their weekend with Church |
 |
| Day 9, 2014, The Elves really surprised the kids with this stunt, and after they finished, I think I heard them say something about that not being all that hard after all. |
 |
| Day 10, 2014, Today's Christmas Mission was to make some Christmas cards. They were coloring their own picture. |
 |
| Day 10, 2014, During the course of the day, the elves finished and signed their work of art. The kids were really surprised. |
 |
| Day 15, 2014, The Elves all loaded up for a ride on Rudolph. He insisted he was not taking them back to the North Pole tonight. |
 |
| Day 14, 2014, The Elves got rid of some stinky diapers. Mistletoe and Jingle are glad that they aren't Rebecca's elves. |
 |
| Day 16, 2014, The Elves were making hot chocolate for themselves. After supper they scooted out of the way and had set out several cups for the kids to make their own. |
 |
| Day 17, 2014, The elves made a sled out of a Hershey bar and some candy canes and asked the little reindeer to pull it they all took turns. |
 |
| Day 18, 2014, The elves posed for a photo shoot tonight, and then added their group picture to the wall of family pictures. But they had to stay at the North Pole since Rebecca touched them too many times the day before. |
 |
| Day 19, 2014, The Elves decided to dress up like superheroes, just like the kids do. This was a huge hit, and so much fun to do. |
 |
| Day 20, 2014, The elves left a game day mission, so we all enjoyed a game of Yahtzee tonight. |
 |
| Day 21, 2014, Since we were going to Church today, the elves decided they could risk hanging out lower. The elves left a Christmas mission of going to look for Christmas lights tonight. |
 |
| Day 23, 2014, The elves were eager to try out the gingerbread house, and the kids helped them eat it. |
 |
| Day 22, 2014, Only 3 more days! |
 |
| Day 24, The Elves arranged a Christmas Eve, movie day. |
 |
| The last movie of the night, the kids and elves watched enjoyed their movie and said good bye. Since Santa was going to pick them up when he filled their stockings, it was ok to touch the elves. |
6:29 PM
No random thoughts
7:10 PM
No random thoughts
We were able to travel down for Little Union's November Meeting last week. It was a very blessed meeting. We do love to visit family, but we very often try to schedule trips when there are going to be meetings, because the one thing we love even more than our natural family is our spiritual family, and to be fed by well studied, God-fearing ministers. This year Little Union had Bro. Philip Conley and Bro. David Montgomery, two ministers that we enjoy and have often heard the Lord bless. It is always good to go back home, and it is wonderful to see Little Union and Bro. Chris Crouse.
Thursday Night
First Bro. Philip preached from Matt 11:11 and Luke 7:28-30 on why John the Baptist was both the greatest and the least. As he was the greatest of the prophets because he actual saw and testified and baptized Christ. And yet we have more than he because we have a fully picture than they did, of the work of Christ. What he has done, is doing and will do. We have "seen" the Resurrection through the testimony of many witnesses. We are the closest to his return than any time in history. And finally unlike John the Baptist we had the privilege of being baptized. There is great comfort and blessings that we get that you don't get otherwise, a gift of the Holy Ghost.
Bro. David Montgomery followed him preaching from Luke 11:27-32 on how the BEST thing we can do is hear and do. He used the example of Matthew 11:12 where the violent take the kingdom by force, or those who seize on it, who go and get it, get the blessing. He told us that the Queen of Sheba and the men of Nineveh didn't need a sign to do what they should and neither should we. There is a blessing in hearing, but a greater blessing in doing. We don't need a sign from God telling us to do, what he has already laid out in his word to do - whether that is being baptized, repenting and adjusting our walk, or following Christ faithfully no matter our circumstances until the end.
Friday Night
Have you ever heard 104 people lift their voices up in praise to their Savior, their God? (I counted that many as services were ending, there were probably around 125 or so.) I am typically not an outwardly emotional person during services, but last night when we sang "As Thirst the Hart" and "Show Pity Lord" I had tears. And that was only the beginning.Bro. David preached first on the subject of Communion. He painted this very vivid picture of that first Passover, as they are in haste, surrounded by death. And while they were given detailed instructions which the Lord expected them to obey, he didn't look at their works as he passed over, but for the blood applied. The blood was to be a token or picture, the experience was to be remembered as a memorial, and it was ordained that they should continue to keep this ordinance. Today we continue to observe the Passover everything we take part in the communion. The wine and bread are the tokens of the blood applied to us, of the death that surrounded us of the suffering Christ endured to save us from that everlasting spiritual death. We are to ever remember that sacrificial death as a memorial. And we will keep that ordinance till he comes. He saved us, now let us act like it.
Bro. Philip preached a powerful sermon on Christ as the suffering servant. In Psalm 40 it tells us that his ear was pierced, laid open. Exodus 21 explains what that means. At the end of his 6 years of service a Hebrew servant would go free, but if he said that he loved the wife he had been given and he loved his children and would not go, then they would bore through his ear, and he would be the servant of his master forever. We are often pictured as both the children of God and the bride of Christ and He loved us so much that while would have been just to leave us to Hell, which we richly deserve, that He said I love my wife and I love my children. He was determined to bear the burden as long as necessary to have His wife and children with Him. He endured the cross, He was laid open for us, He bore the burden of our sins, and was forsaken of God, until the price was paid, all so that we would never be alone. If we ever feel alone it is because sometimes the darkness of the world crowds in, so we should hide His word in our hearts, reach out and cling to Him, and walk following Him.
Saturday Morning
This morning, I was able to take as detailed notes, because I took Rebecca out of Church. She was pitching a fit, and had been ultra clingy with Gary all weekend. I was trying to let him at least hear one sermon in it's entirety. Bro. David took all the time and read first from Exodus 34:29-35, speaking about how Moses's face had shown with the glory of the Lord after coming down from Mt. Sinai. It was to the point that he had to cover his face because the others couldn't look to him. He told us of this glorious, powerful alright God who gave us the law telling us how to be justified, and to do it because He is GOD because He IS. And thus the law was glorious, but no son of Adam could keep it. That did nothing to detract from Him, and that doesn't change the glory of the law. Bro. David then went to II Corinthians 3:7 and finished out the chapter showing us, that Christ fulfilled the law, removing us from under its power, and if that first testament despite being one of death was glorious how much more glorious was the testament that Christ sealed with his death. He instructed us not to place a veil over our heart, not to harden our hearts, but take these thoughts to our heart and live our lives to reflect his glory, just as Moses's face reflected the glory of God.
Saturday Night
Tonight, I was writing just as fast as I could go and still be legitable. Bro. Philip had so much to say and I didn't know most of it, and wanted to remember it for later. Gary told me he know most of the information, but never thought about the spiritual application. Bro. Philip took all the time speaking from Psalm 92:12 on the phrase "flourish like the palm tree." And it is amazing to think what a sermon he preached from 5 words.
He showed us how the Church of God is like a Palm tree. Palms have no tap roots but many small roots. This shows while we are small, together in the Church we are a great congregation (Psa 40). And that he gave us one another for strength and support, the Bible will not support the picture of a lone Christian, he sat us in families. He told us if a spouse is a good thing to help and strengthen us, how much more a Church body with which to stand no matter what. Because of the shallow unique structure of the roots a Palm can live in a desert, where there is no depth of soil, only rocks. Likewise this world is not a friendly, pleasant place, we as the Church only can grow on the Rock, and be sustained by Him. Palms most often grow in a group with their roots intertwining, in the same way we don't merely have our home Church body, but many sister Churches across the country, and we are better, stronger, truer to the faith when we are strengthened by our fellowship (II John). If I as a little root is plucked out the Church Palm will be just fine, but I am nothing and cannot survive on my own.
In most trees the bark is the life and without it, the tree dies. But not so with a Palm. The bark must be pealed back to allow the moisture and air to reach the heart where the life is. Likewise, we must break our flesh, deny our worldly desires. What we want is not important but we should bring our will in alignment to His. Unlike the world that revels in the flesh and can't live without it, it will choke out the heart and the spirit in a child of God.
Palms also have unique fruit in that they grown in clusters not singularly and the middle fruit is the biggest. Our service likewise manifests itself in groups. There are 9 parts to the fruit of the spirit (Gal 5) and 7 things we should add to our faith (I Peter). Also when we give to God the central fruit without which we can offer no other is love. It must be the motivation for all we do just like it was and is for Him. He disciplines everyone of his children, sometimes we must discipline our own, sometimes in the Church we must discipline each other, but always because of Love. Finally he told us the top of the Palm, the fronds fall open to the open shape of a man's hand (which is where they get the name). We worship "lifting up holy hands," offering all to God. And when we keep that attitude, when we keep our focus on Him, this will never fail us.
Sunday Morning
Bro. Philip preached from Mark 4:35-41 on the disciples being in the storm while Jesus slept in the boat. These were great fishermen in an even greater storm, in the middle of the night in a boat full of water. However despite their unbelief, He blessed them anyway. He still has this power, he borns our soul again and in the midst of the storms of life He speaks peace. He does because of the compassion He has for us. But like the disciples we often need reminding. God promised them that they would pass over before they ever left, but they had forgotten. We have the same promise that we will pass over this life and nothing will prevent us from safely reaching the other side. However we read that there were many small boats. All were able to see the great calm, all were then blessed to cross, but only those in the boat had the understanding of what happened. All God's children will feel the peace of the new birth, and all will make it to heaven, but not all will understand. But we should apply ourselves, study and be as close to God as possible.
Bro. David then preached about another time the disciples had trouble at night on the sea (Matt 14). He pointed out that Jesus had just performed a great miracle with the fishes and the loaves. They went to inform the Lord and bemoan the impossible, but He told them that he could handle it. And He does provide so that 12 baskets were left over. The disciples gathered it that nothing be lost, and it was to provide for them later, just as we take home the things preached to meditate on and comfort us later. But a storm came up and Jesus saw them 3.5 miles away, in a storm, at 2 am and he came to them. They were afraid because they couldn't see Him, and they didn't remember the fragments. But He speaks telling them to be of good cheer. And when He gets in the boat the winds and waves, though not rebuked do what is expected and immediately they are at the other side. We should do as He expects without being told. He cares for us now, and immediately our fleeting life will be over and He will take us home.
Bro. Chris then closed out services speaking on the joy of our going home, and the glorious morning of the Resurrection (I Thes). Till then Christ intercedes for us just as he was praying before the storm for the disciples and till then we're to comfort one another with these words.
Saturday Night
Tonight, I was writing just as fast as I could go and still be legitable. Bro. Philip had so much to say and I didn't know most of it, and wanted to remember it for later. Gary told me he know most of the information, but never thought about the spiritual application. Bro. Philip took all the time speaking from Psalm 92:12 on the phrase "flourish like the palm tree." And it is amazing to think what a sermon he preached from 5 words.
He showed us how the Church of God is like a Palm tree. Palms have no tap roots but many small roots. This shows while we are small, together in the Church we are a great congregation (Psa 40). And that he gave us one another for strength and support, the Bible will not support the picture of a lone Christian, he sat us in families. He told us if a spouse is a good thing to help and strengthen us, how much more a Church body with which to stand no matter what. Because of the shallow unique structure of the roots a Palm can live in a desert, where there is no depth of soil, only rocks. Likewise this world is not a friendly, pleasant place, we as the Church only can grow on the Rock, and be sustained by Him. Palms most often grow in a group with their roots intertwining, in the same way we don't merely have our home Church body, but many sister Churches across the country, and we are better, stronger, truer to the faith when we are strengthened by our fellowship (II John). If I as a little root is plucked out the Church Palm will be just fine, but I am nothing and cannot survive on my own.
In most trees the bark is the life and without it, the tree dies. But not so with a Palm. The bark must be pealed back to allow the moisture and air to reach the heart where the life is. Likewise, we must break our flesh, deny our worldly desires. What we want is not important but we should bring our will in alignment to His. Unlike the world that revels in the flesh and can't live without it, it will choke out the heart and the spirit in a child of God.
Palms also have unique fruit in that they grown in clusters not singularly and the middle fruit is the biggest. Our service likewise manifests itself in groups. There are 9 parts to the fruit of the spirit (Gal 5) and 7 things we should add to our faith (I Peter). Also when we give to God the central fruit without which we can offer no other is love. It must be the motivation for all we do just like it was and is for Him. He disciplines everyone of his children, sometimes we must discipline our own, sometimes in the Church we must discipline each other, but always because of Love. Finally he told us the top of the Palm, the fronds fall open to the open shape of a man's hand (which is where they get the name). We worship "lifting up holy hands," offering all to God. And when we keep that attitude, when we keep our focus on Him, this will never fail us.
He eats of the fruit of our offering not because He needs it, but because He enjoys it (Song of Sol 4). May we be like Exodus 17, the Rock Christ was struck for us, giving us that living water, but then the Children of Israel had to go out and fight the same old enemy, even as we must continue to battle our flesh. And Moses held up his hands, Aaron and Hurr supported him, and the children of Israel fought the battle. We all need each other, the minister that preaches to us, the deacons that support him, and the Church as a whole fights together. And when we need to, we can sit down and rest on the Rock. I have never cared for Palm trees thinking they are ugly, but I will never view them quite the same again.
Sunday Morning
Bro. Philip preached from Mark 4:35-41 on the disciples being in the storm while Jesus slept in the boat. These were great fishermen in an even greater storm, in the middle of the night in a boat full of water. However despite their unbelief, He blessed them anyway. He still has this power, he borns our soul again and in the midst of the storms of life He speaks peace. He does because of the compassion He has for us. But like the disciples we often need reminding. God promised them that they would pass over before they ever left, but they had forgotten. We have the same promise that we will pass over this life and nothing will prevent us from safely reaching the other side. However we read that there were many small boats. All were able to see the great calm, all were then blessed to cross, but only those in the boat had the understanding of what happened. All God's children will feel the peace of the new birth, and all will make it to heaven, but not all will understand. But we should apply ourselves, study and be as close to God as possible.
Bro. David then preached about another time the disciples had trouble at night on the sea (Matt 14). He pointed out that Jesus had just performed a great miracle with the fishes and the loaves. They went to inform the Lord and bemoan the impossible, but He told them that he could handle it. And He does provide so that 12 baskets were left over. The disciples gathered it that nothing be lost, and it was to provide for them later, just as we take home the things preached to meditate on and comfort us later. But a storm came up and Jesus saw them 3.5 miles away, in a storm, at 2 am and he came to them. They were afraid because they couldn't see Him, and they didn't remember the fragments. But He speaks telling them to be of good cheer. And when He gets in the boat the winds and waves, though not rebuked do what is expected and immediately they are at the other side. We should do as He expects without being told. He cares for us now, and immediately our fleeting life will be over and He will take us home.
Bro. Chris then closed out services speaking on the joy of our going home, and the glorious morning of the Resurrection (I Thes). Till then Christ intercedes for us just as he was praying before the storm for the disciples and till then we're to comfort one another with these words.
5:59 PM
No random thoughts