To the Garden We Go

Both of my kids get to choose what they want in their garden.  Emma always chooses watermelon.  Sadly, hers did not make it this year.  Noah’s cantaloupe on the other hand has bore two full melons thus far.  While the fruit smelled fantastic, the taste was awful. 

Mirror Lake

Update on Southern

I am preparing for different seminars this fall.  I will finish up my last colloquium of my PhD career (things are starting to turn in the next chapter), which is both sad and exciting.  And I will finish up with two educational seminars that I am required to take in my fifth semester.  Other than one more seminar next spring, I will be complete with all my seminar work for PhD process, which is pretty amazing it has gone by that quick.  Lord willing, I will be setting my sights on comps in the spring, which many people believe to be the most difficult part of the PhD process.

He Liveth Long that Liveth Well”

He liveth long who liveth well;

All other life is short and vain;

He liveth longest who can tell

Of living most for heavenly gain.

He liveth long who liveth well;

All else is being flung away;

He liveth longest who can tell

Of true things truly done each day.

Be what thou seemest; live thy creed;

Hold up to earth the torch divine:

Be what thou prayest to be made;

Let the great Master’s steps be thine.

Fill up each hour with what will last;

Buy up the moments as they go;

The life above, when this is past,

Is the ripe fruit of life below.

Sow love, and taste its fruitage pure;

Sow peace, and reap its harvest bright;

Sow sunbeams on the rock and moor,

And find a harvest-home of light.

Twelfth Sunday After Trinity Prayer

Almighty and everlasting God, who is always more ready to hear than we to pray, and are likely to give more than either we desire or deserve, pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things where our conscience is afraid and giving to us that which our prayer dare not presume to ask; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Nuts and Bolts

Violinist layer tracks

Thomas Watson on Glorifying God

We glorify God by walking cheerfully.  It brings glory to God, when the world sees a Christian has that within him that can make him cheerful in the worst times; that can enable him, with the nightingale, to sing with a thorn at his breast.  The people of God have ground for cheerfulness.  They are justified and adopted, and this creates inward peace; it makes music within, whatever the storms are without.  If we consider what Christ has wrought for us by his blood, and wrought in us by his Spirit, it is a ground of great cheerfulness, and this cheerfulness glorifies God.  It reflects upon a master when the servant is always drooping and sad…A Christian’s cheerful looks glorify God; religion does not take away our joy, but refines it; it does not break our viol, but tunes it, and makes the music sweeter.

What I am Reading

The first 70 pages is rather slow going as the author goes overboard in defining Christian spirituality.  This book was not a true introduction to the subject.  I would much prefer McGrath’s.  Nevertheless, the author is remarkable at drawing out application from various backgrounds. 

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

#10-Got Bacteria in My Ears

#9-Saw how the “Amish” made stuff is really imported from Florida (but they can make incredible sandwiches).

#8-Had my sinus’ massaged by a woman with German type hands.

#7-Saw a woman in a bathrobe trying to shoot a turtle in water while the dock she was on was shaking ninety to nothing.

#6-Saw an idiot nearly blow off his hand while talking holding a lit firecracker. 

#5-Got More Bacteria in My Ears (see #10)

#4-Wished I was a millionaire so I could build a General Store as a tourist trap and make another million.

#3-Rode on a train forward while eating lunch.

#2-Rode on a train backward while eating lunch.

#1-Went to a health food store and noticed they were selling organic (“wink, wink”) raspberries for $24 a pound.  Wished I was a vegan store owner so I could make some money on the poor saps who buy these raspberries.  

Eleventh Sunday After Trinity Prayer

God, who declared your almighty power most chiefly in showing mercy and pity, give unto us abundantly your grace, that we, running to your promises, may be made partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

To the Garden We Go

This is a pretty good indication of life in the garden this last month.  While my tomatoes took off and gave me a steady harvest for about six weeks, they along with pretty much everything else are gone.   Oh well, gardening is a good lesson about Christianity; sometimes there is a dry period before the rains come in and fruit finally bears.  Thank God I have a basement to hibernate in until October. 

A Twelve Month in an Hour

They err who measure life by years,

With false or thoughtless tongue;

Some hearts grow old before their time;

Others are always young.

It is not the number of the lines

On life's fast filling page,

It is not the pulse's added throbs,

Which constitute their age.

Some souls are serfs among the free,

While others nobly thrive;

They stand just where their fathers stood

Dead, even while they live.

Others, all spirit, heart, and sense,

Theirs the mysterious power

To live in thrills of joy or woe,

A twelvemonth in an hour!

What I Am Reading-Conformed to His Image

This is a clear and straightforward look at how the spiritual disciplines shape our Christian life both personally and corporately.  Kenneth Boa’s easy read, yet comprehensive survey could make this a curriculum used in a Sunday school.  This is a compelling and edifying work. 

What Students Do in School

Tenth Sunday after Trinity Prayer

Let your merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of your humble servants, and, that they may obtain their petitions, make them to ask such things as shall please you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Nuts and Bolts

Newscaster freaks out

Getting on a train in Asia

You Know You Are in Kansas

Update On Southern

My major paper is done and for the first time in over two years, I do not have in any standing work coming in.  I am waiting for it though as I am taking an educational seminar this fall and one colloquium. 

Richard Sibbes On the Trustworthiness of God

Richard Sibbes quotes Salvian concerning the trustworthiness of God:

“Who has made the earth faithful to bring forth fruit…but God?  Yet we can trust the ground with sowing our seed.  Who makes man faithful, who is by nature the most slippery and unconstant creature of all other, but God only?  Yet we can trust a vain man, whose, breath, is in his nostrils, and look for great matters at his hands, before an all-sufficient God, that changeth not.  Who makes the seas and the winds faithful, that they do not hurt us, but God?  And yet we are apt to trust the wind and weather sooner than God, as we see many seamen that will thrust forth their goods into the wide ocean in a small bark, to shift any way, rather than trust God with them.” Works of Richard Sibbes, edited by Alexander B. Grosart Vol. 1 Banner of Truth Trust, 1973                reprint, p. 413.

Ninth Sunday After Trinity Prayer

Grant to us, Lord, we ask you, the spirit to think and do always such things as are rightful; that

we, who cannot be without you, may by you be able to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.