Sunday, June 26, 2011

Sunday Hymn

Sweet Hour of Prayer

William Walford 1772-1850

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father’s throne
Make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
The joys I feel, the bliss I share,
Of those whose anxious spirits burn
With strong desires for thy return!
With such I hasten to the place
Where God my Savior shows His face,
And gladly take my station there,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
Thy wings shall my petition bear
To Him whose truth and faithfulness
Engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since He bids me seek His face,
Believe His Word and trust His grace,
I’ll cast on Him my every care,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
May I thy consolation share,
Till, from Mount Pisgah’s lofty height,
I view my home and take my flight:
This robe of flesh I’ll drop and rise
To seize the everlasting prize;
And shout, while passing through the air,
“Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer!”

( to listen, please push pause on song playlist first)

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

It's Raining!!!

With the much needed rain the Lord has blessed us with the past couple of days, I thought it would be great to repost this blog entry first done in 2008.

My how the kids have grown from this picture...


Almost every morning you can find Kaylyn checking the weather on the computer after breakfast. I will pull up the site and she will tell us what if it is going to rain or not. Lord-willing. When she sees it is in the forecast to rain in 5 days, she will countdown to the day when we will have a rainy day. And if it shows thunderstorms, she anticipates the day even more.

So, when we wake up to a dark, cloudy morning, with rain falling, it is an exciting day. We love the beautiful rain God gives us. I will often see my children standing near a window, gazing out, discussing how God is watering our grass and flowers for us.

Let me ask you. Do you enjoy the rain? When you awake in the morning and see rain falling down, do you murmur what a bad day it is? Have you ever considered how amazing rain can be? The glory it brings to God?

I would like to share the following meditation by John Piper about rain. It is lengthy, but please read all of it...it will make of you think of rain in a way you have may not have considered and known before.

The Great Work of God:Rain
Meditation on Job 5:8-10

But as for me, I would seek God,
And I would place my cause before God;
Who does great and unsearchable things,
Wonders without number.
He gives rain on the earth,
And sends water on the fields.


If you said to someone: "My God great and unsearchable things; He does wonders without number," and they responded, "Really? Like what?" would you say, " Like rain"? When I read these verses from Job recently, I felt, at first, the way I did on hearing some bad poetry that went something like this: "Let me suffer, let me die, just to win your hand, and even walk across the land?" Even? I would suffer and die to have your hand, and even walk across the land? As if walking across the land were more sacrificial than dying? This sounded to me like a joke.

But Job is not joking. "God does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number. He gives rain on the earth." In Job's mind rain really is one of the great, unsearchable wonders that God does. So when I read this a few weeks ago, I resolved not to treat it as meaningless pop musical lyrics. I decided to have a conversation with myself ( Which is what I mean by meditation).

Is rain a great and unsearchable wonder wrought by God? Picture yourself as a farmer in the Near East, far from any lake or stream. A few wells keep the family and animals supplied with water. But if the crops are to grow and the family is to be fed from month to month, water has to come from another source on the fields. From where?

Well, the sky. The sky? Water will come out of the clear blue sky? Well, not exactly. Water will have to be carried in the sky from the Mediterranean Sea over several hundred miles, and then be poured out on the fields from the sky. Carried? How much does it weigh? Well, if one inch of rain falls on one square mile of farmland during the night, that would be 2,323,200 cubic feet of water, which is 17,377,536 gallons, which is 144,735,360 pounds of water.

That's heavy. So how does it get up in the sky and stay there if it's so heavy? Well, it gets up there by evaporation. Really? That's a nice word. What's it mean? It means the water stops being water for a while so it can go up and not down. I see. Then how does it get down? Well, condensation happens.
What's that? The water starts becoming water again by gathering around little dust particles between .00001 and .0001 centimeters wide. That's small.

What about the salt? Salt? Yes, the Mediterranean Sea is saltwater. That would kill the crops. What about the salt? Well, the salt has to be taken out. Oh. So the sky picks up millions of pounds of water from the sea, takes out the salt, carries the water ( or whatever it is, when it is not water) for three hundred miles, and then dumps it (now turned into water again) on the farm?

Well, it doesn't dump it. If it dumped millions of pounds of water on the farm, the wheat would be crushed. So the sky dribbles the millions of pounds of water down in little drops. And they have to be big enough to fall one mile or so without evaporating, and small enough from crushing the wheat stalks.

How do all these microscopic specks of water that weigh millions of pounds get heavy enough to fall ( if that's the way to ask the question)? Well, it's called coalescence. What's that? It means specks of water start bumping into each other and join up and get bigger, and when they are big enough, they fall. Just like that? Well, not exactly, because they would just bounce off each other instead of joining up if there were no electric field present. What? Never mind. Take my word for it.

I think, instead, I will just take Job's word for it. I still don't see why drops ever get to the ground, because if they start falling as soon as they are heavier than the air, they would be to small not to evaporate on the way down. But if they wait to come down, what holds them up till they are big enough not to evaporate? Yes, I am sure there's a name for that too. But I am satisfied for now that, by any name, this is a great and unsearchable thing that God has done. I think I should be thankful-lots more thankful than I am.



Isn't rain amazing!?! As the rain continues to come down upon us this day down here in the south, may we meditate on God and His greatness in the rain.

To God Be the Glory!

This meditation was found in "Taste and See' by John Piper on pages 24-26.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Math and Chocolate!

It's summer time and most are out of school, yet some of us are still schooling through the summer.

Whether you are in or out, just because I care for you ;) and don't want your brains to turn to mush, I decided to put your brain to work and give you a word problem.

Get a pencil, paper, eraser and glass of milk ready.


Problem:

What does 3 cups of melted butter


6 cups creamy peanut butter


6 cups graham crackers

4 pounds of powdered sugar



and chocolate almond bark
( picture taken from google images)


plus 6 extra large Ziploc bags equal?


Answer:

Over 200 chocolate peanut butter balls packaged and ready to serve at an anniversary party.


Bonus Question for extra points:

What does a glass of milk plus taste testers equal?



4 happy children!!!



What are you doing this summer to keep your mind fresh and your tastebuds happy?

P.S.Amy S- I know your mouth is watering...don't worry...I saved some just for you! They will be hand delivered soon!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Been Busy and Loving It

These past few months have been really busy for us. Some physically, some mentally, and some emotionally.

We have been camping, traveling long distances, cooking for those in need, schooling, praying through trials, been to a conference, piano lessons, and soaking in family times.

It has been busy and won't stop for another 2 weeks, but we are loving our times.

In these last few months the Lord continues to work in our lives and though we have been busy all around, He has given us much rest in Him.

This is a quick post but I wanted all to know I have not disappeared. Thank you to those who have checked on me to make sure I am ok. I hope to visit your blogs more again soon and catch up with my friends.

Though I have been absent from you here, my prayers have not been absent concerning many of you.

Have a blessed day and Lord-willing, I will be "back" soon.

Much Love In Christ,

Christine