From a Reformed perspective, why do evangelism?

If you actually made it all the way through the previous post, then you'll understand that I wrote it because I wanted to share where I've been and where I'm going on this theological saga. After working through limited atonement (which, to me ended up being so closely tied to election that I no longer had an issue with it - I'll probably explain that better another day), then my next job was working back through what I've always believed and reviewing it in the light of what I was beginning to more fully understand about election. One of those things was evangelism. I knew I didn't want to be on the "hyper" side of calvinism. Obviously Jesus gave us a commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel. But what to say? "Jesus Christ died for you if you're one of the elect and if you're one of the elect you should consider this your notification that it's time to give your life over to Him." ?

This is the question Eric answered last week in for the Irish Calvinist's Q&A Friday. He quotes Spurgeon who (of course) says is better like this, “If God would have painted a yellow stripe on the backs of the elect I would go around lifting shirts. But since He didn’t I must preach `whosoever will’ and when `whosoever’ believes I know he is one of the elect.”

Election Update

As I 've worked through the 5 points of Calvinism the past couple of months, I've really found such a great peace about things that terribly disturbed me. The doctrine of election was such a stumbling block for me. Of course it's in the Bible. Everyone knows that (I think). But I didn't want to give it too much weight. I wanted to keep it securely tied to free will. Because there were things I didn't like about election. To me, if some were elect, then some were obviously not elect. And this was a problem for me.

Let me backtrack a bit. My Pappy (my maternal grandfather) was probably my favorite, most loved person in the world. I was his first grandchild, and the only one for six years until my brother was born. I was his "baby." My Grandma still calls me that. I prayed for him to be saved every day for as long as I can remember. Then one Sunday morning, when I was ten years old, he had a massive heart attack. He died. I had prayed for my daddy to be saved, and when I was three, he gave his life to Christ and soon was called to preach. I prayed for my aunt to be saved, and when I was seven, she received Christ. I prayed for my Pap to be saved... and he died... and went to hell. And I can't say or think that 20 years later without sobbing.

So this election thing bothered me. It bothered me that he could go to hell period. Because he wasn't just some nebulous "someone who rejected Christ." But worse still, could God elect some people and not others? Why not him? This was personal. Intensely personal. And the dialogue of my thoughts bordered on blasphemous. How could God do this? How could it be right? And yet at the same time I was so grateful for what He has done for me. And I knew that God's thoughts are high above our thoughts.

So, there were times that I was so overwhelmed by God and who He is, that my questions suddenly paled in comparison. And there were many more times that I simply pushed those thoughts back away, into their little corner, because I still couldn't figure it out.

Now don't think that I have it all figured out now. But a few things have become crystal clear to me.

Several posts at the Irish Calvinist dealing with election and limited atonement gave me yet another opportunity to work through these things. And Eric was ready to give Biblical answers to any questions I brought up. I also recently worked through what a truly biblical view of assurance of salvation was. And I was also confronted with an angle of this isssue in the Way of the Master evangelism Sunday school class at church. So it was time to once again try to reconcile the God I love with His ways that I cannot understand.

Then my brother was arrested again and went back to prison. He knows so much about God. He has a level of discernment in theology that just blows your mind when you try to put it together with a life that is obviously not the life of one who is attached to The Vine. In the midst of the pain his actions and continued lack of submission to His Creator caused my family, God spoke to me. I shared it with you then, but I didn't realize the ripple of impact it would have in my own heart:

God will always get glory from whatever happens. We just have to adjust our thinking. Even in terms of the eternal destinies of those we love most. My new prayer became, "God make my desire to see you be glorified more important than anything I feel, or anyone that I love."

And that really was the key all along. Do I want God's truth or Alicia's truth? Do I want God to be glorified, or do I simply want what I want? I had had a sneaking suspicion that if I really loved God more than I loved these people that I've loved and held here on earth, I would have a better perspective. God's glory is the most important thing. Jesus said, "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." Make my desire to see you be glorified more important than anything I feel, or anyone I love.

Once I put my issues aside and opened my heart to what the Scipture was saying I was able to grasp the complete depravity and hopelessness of fallen man. The free will is there, but we would never choose him without Divine intervention. We would choose our own way. Yet He chose us before the foundations of the world. For his glory. Soli Deo Gloria!

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Update: Today is the day to bless Kelli, so go to BooMama's blog to make an online donation. You can give as little as $1.50. I everyone did this, it would make a huge difference. I know what it's like to have too many medical bills and not enough income, but Kelli's situation is far more urgent and expensive. Skip a latte, movie rental, or eat an extra round of spaghetti this week. You can't afford to miss this chance to be a blessing!

This may be one of the greatest blessings in blogging. The privilege to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. This is all BooMama's idea, but I found out about it through Mary. Click on the button to be a part of this wonderful show of love for Kelli, a mother in need of a kidney transplant.

As a side note, I'm so excited to have finally been motivated enough to figure out how to add these buttons to my posts, maybe now I'll look like a "real" blogger. :^)

Tuesday, Craft Day

I like seasonal and holiday activities. Today we're doing winter crafts.

• Paper snowflakes - I think we'll have to stick these on the glass deck doors.
• Marshmallow snowmen - I know more will be eaten than crafted
• Dress-up snowman magnet pieces. - I'm going to mount the black and white templates here on heavy paper, have the kids color them and cut them out, then glue magnet strips (from all of those advertising magnets that come stuck to things) on the back.
• Decorate your own mittens. - We're going to try out Ethan's new glitter pens on the "My Mittens" page at crayola.com

MLK funny

We read a couple of storybook bios today, then tonight we actually watched an online recording of Dr.King's "I Have a Dream" speech. I had actually never read very much about him before, nor had I heard the speech beyond the short, much-quoted "dream" excerpt. I was impressed with his amazing speaking talent as well as the content of his speech.

Anyway, on to the funny part. While I was searching for a recording of the "I Have a Dream" speech, I stopped at The King Center website where a section of his sermon-speech "The Drum Major Instinct" begins playing when the site comes up. You can click on it in a new window to get the full effect. As Dr. King's voice orates,
"You don't have to have a college degree to serve.
You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve.
You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve.
You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve.
You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve."
Anna Kate intones, "Breakfast is served!"

Give him a break!

Is anyone else out there half as disturbed as I am that Jack Bauer never gets a vacation?

Hymn of the Week

This is an old hymn whose original melody was written in 1876 by Robert Lowry. The Rees text was originally written in Welsh and was the revival hymn of the 1904 revival in Wales. I never heard it until it was reset to a melody by Steve and Vicki Cook on Sovereign Grace's CD All We Long To See. You can listen to the secondverse of that version here.

Here is Love

Here is love, vast as the ocean,
Lovingkindness as the flood,
When the Prince of Life, our Ransom,
Shed for us His precious blood.
Who His love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten,
Throughout Heav’n’s eternal days.

On the mount of crucifixion,
Fountains opened deep and wide;
Through the floodgates of God’s mercy
Flowed a vast and gracious tide.
Grace and love, like mighty rivers,
Poured incessant from above,
And Heav’n’s peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love.

Let me all Thy love accepting,
Love Thee, ever all my days;
Let me seek Thy kingdom only
And my life be to Thy praise;
Thou alone shalt be my glory,
Nothing in the world I see.
Thou hast cleansed and sanctified me,
Thou Thyself hast set me free.

In Thy truth Thou dost direct me
By Thy Spirit through Thy Word;
And Thy grace my need is meeting,
As I trust in Thee, my Lord.
Of Thy fullness Thou art pouring
Thy great love and power on me,
Without measure, full and boundless,
Drawing out my heart to Thee.

Words: William Rees (1802-1883),verses 1-2; Will­iam Will­iams pos­sib­ly wrote vers­es 3-4

Another prayer request

Please lift up Noah and his parents, Adrienne and Jason today. They have made the decision to take their baby off of life support today. Thanks to Wendy for making me aware of this sweet family.

Bathtime is fun!

New Every Morning

Lamentations 3

*

22 It is of the LORD's mercies

that we are not consumed,

because his compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning:

great is thy faithfulness.

*

24 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul;

therefore will I hope in him.
25 The LORD is good unto them that wait for him,

to the soul that seeketh him.
26 It is good that a man should both hope

and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.

*

31 For the LORD will not cast off for ever:
32 But though he cause grief,

yet will he have compassion

according to the multitude of his mercies.

*

40 Let us search and try our ways,

and turn again to the LORD.
41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands

unto God in the heavens.

*

55 I called upon thy name, O LORD,

out of the low dungeon.
56 Thou hast heard my voice:

hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.
57 Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee:

thou saidst, Fear not.
58 O LORD, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul;

thou hast redeemed my life.

Hymn of the Week

From a lyrics standpoint, this is my very favorite hymn. I'm not at all crazy about the traditional melodies. There was a beautiful choral arrangement with a different, very effective melody that we sang in the Unversity Chorale, but I've searched the internet to no avail and am sending off an e-mail to some friends to find out (hopefully) who wrote it. But, in the meantime, take the time to read the words to this great song as if you'd never heard it before, and you will be blessed.

Arise, My Soul, Arise


Arise, my soul, arise; shake off thy guilty fears;
The bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears:
Before the throne my surety stands,
Before the throne my surety stands,
My name is written on His hands.

He ever lives above, for me to intercede;
His all redeeming love, His precious blood, to plead:
His blood atoned for all our race,
His blood atoned for all our race,
And sprinkles now the throne of grace.

Five bleeding wounds He bears; received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers; they strongly plead for me:
“Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry,
“Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry,
“Nor let that ransomed sinner die!”

The Father hears Him pray, His dear anointed One;
He cannot turn away, the presence of His Son;
His Spirit answers to the blood,
His Spirit answers to the blood,
And tells me I am born of God.

My God is reconciled; His pardoning voice I hear;
He owns me for His child; I can no longer fear:
With confidence I now draw nigh,
With confidence I now draw nigh,
And “Father, Abba, Father,” cry.

Words:Charles Wesley
Music: Lewis Edson

About Me

I was putting this together on e-mail for a friend, so I decided to share it with everyone. I've seen it floating around the blogosphere too, but have never posted it before. I'd love to have those of you who haven't done it lately(or ever) join in.

Four Things about me you might not have known.
1. I am the oldest of seven children, and I am six years older than my next sibling.
2. I've always wanted to live out West, in theory, at least
3. I almost never get sick except when I'm pregnant - then I more than make up for it
4. I have hundreds, probably over a thousand, books in my house and I love every one of them. (And those are just mine, not counting Brian's or the rotating boxes of children's books or the books on the kids bookshelves....)
Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Choir director
2. pizza maker
3. tour guide
4. accompanist
Four movies you would watch over and over:
1. Romeo and Juliet
2. Pride & Prejudice
3. The Sound of Music
4. Much Ado about Nothing
Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. NCIS
2. 24
3. Prison Break
4. The Unit
Four places you have been on vacation
1. San Antonio
2. New Orleans
3. Marco Island
4. Steamboat Springs
Four of my favorite foods:
1. Chocolate
2. Mocha lattes
3. Danishes
4. Pasta
Four places I would rather be right now:
1. In Europe, especially Austria or Tuscany
2. Home in PA
3. With a friend (everyone's asleep and frankly, I'm a bit lonely; we've been isolated by illness for weeks, with occasional breaks)
4. Out west, preferably Colorado or Montana

Happy Birthday,Ethan!

A few days ago, Ethan was singing "Forever and For Always" to me. It's our song. He sang, "wanna wake up every morning to your sweet face, always," then stopped and earnestly said, "that's why I got into your bed last night, Mom, because I wanted to wake up every morning to your sweet face."

****

I can't believe that it's been six years since the first Sunday that I held you in my arms. You are a sweet, tenderhearted little man, and I thank God for you all of the time. Sometimes I wish I could freeze time.

This was NOT on my to-do list today

Five things to do this weekend

1. Finish packing away the Christmas decorations. I'm pretending that I'm not the only one who hasn't done this yet. I'm also pretending that I'm actually going to pull this off this weekend, but maybe I'll get an E for effort.
2. Write a letter of encouragement, or call a friend that needs encouraged. I'll be writing to my brother in prison, as I try to do almost every day. And I'll be calling a girlfriend several states away to listen to her and to listen to God, begging Him for the wisdom to know how to encourage and when to keep listening. It's humbling to not know the answers, but comforting to know that Someone does.
3. Hang a calendar for each of your kids. I get each of my children their own calendar, hang it in their room, and use it to write down things that they say or do, just like a baby calendar. It's less effort than a journal, but I still have a record.
4. Make some homemade mixes. I need to mix up a batch of gluten-free Bisquick, a dry cream soup base, and some gluten-free corn muffin mix.
5. Send out your remaining Christmas thank you notes. I have an old card maker from when I was a girl. The kind where you choose the plates, put a piece of paper over them, and then rub them with a crayon. The kids love it. Of course, the internet also has a limitless supply of great (free) printable thank yous too. These are really cute.

I want to invent a medicine machine

Wouldn't it be great if you could go to Walmart, walk up to a console, choose which ingredients you wanted, then the flavor you like best, and have the machine fill your bottle and print out a label with dosage instructions? Of course it would have premeasured amounts of each ingredient based on the combination chosen and would know which combinations were a bad idea.

It would just be so nice if you could get only a cough suppresant and decongestant when that's all that you want. And then add in acetaminophen or ibuprofen and an expectorant when you want that too. All in the really good grape flavor.

Well, that would be my perfect world of medicine shopping. Of course I would rather not be buying medicine at all.

In the meantime, try Delsyn, the 12 hour cough suppresant. It works really well, comes as a single ingredient drug (a big plus in my book), and tastes good.

Is your car seat really safe?

I just watched an enlightening piece on the local news about car seat safety tests. Did you know that federal car seat tests are sone as a frontal crash at 30 mph? That's enough right there to concern me - does anyone know what these seats would do on an interstate crash at 70 mph????

Well, Consumer Reports tested infant seats at higher speeds ( I think only up to 38 mph) and did a side crash test. The results were not pretty. They even recommended that the Evenflo Discovery be taken off the market because it flew off its base even at the federally mandated speed. Several seats twisted or flew off their bases! I'm apalled. Does the average parent know this? I'm spreading the word.

According to Consumer Reports, "Of 12 infant seats we tested, only 2 performed well: the Baby Trend Flex-Loc and the Graco SnugRide with EPS. " Their testing also found continued problems with the LATCH system. It appears that securing carsets with the regular seatbelts may be the safer approach.

And I still would like to know what happens at even 50 mph. Don't you think it might at least be prudent to record the effectiveness of various carseats as a required part of accident reports? This data could help identify particularly weak carseats.

How to Fight for Joy

Jump right over to The Irish Calvinist and watch the John Piper video posted right under the "Straight from the Armenian Hymnal" article. (It doesn't have its own permalink, and I think it's a bit misplaced.) You don't want to miss this mini sermon on joy. I think it's only about 30 seconds long. So go. Right now. Then you can click the back button and settle in for a visit.

Dairy's BACK!

The really good news from our trip is that my mother left some lactose pills on our room while we were up there, and Brian took the plunge and tried them since he was off work. AND THEY WORKED! He's been off gluten and dairy for over a year. Just imagine cooking with no wheat, rye, barley, oats, milk, butter, cheese, or other dairy products and you'll see how great it is to just add half of that back. Ice cream, pudding, crustless cheesecakes, wheat-free pizza, smoothies.... I'm almost as excited as he is.

Happy New Year!

Can you believe that I actually just wrote "07" today for the first time? We're making a slow recovery from the holidays. My minivan is still only part way unpacked from our arrival three days ago.

We did have a good Christmas, but my family has been passing stuff around for over four weeks now, and my family in PA was doing the same thing. For those of you who don't know me personally, I don't get sick very often. If I call the doctor, they have to look in their old records. I do get HORRIBLE morning sickness that lasts forever, but very rarely get anything else. Especially colds, and I can't remember ever having the flu. My husband is my direct opposite. He has fibromyalgia and has frequent pain, headaches,etc., and he catches everything too. Our kids are somewhere in between. So, when we left, Ethan had a lingering cough, and Rose was just getting it (Anna Kate had gotten it and recovered quickly already.) Rose had a mild fever pretty much the whole time we were there and spiked a 102 degree temperature for a couple of days, and nearly everyone else staying at my parents' home got some version of this cold/flu/sore throat/cough thing too. So we enjoyed spending time with my family, but didn't get out very much. Brian came down with it on New Year's Day - the day we had to drive all day to get back home. I know that he felt reeaallly bad because he let me drive the WHOLE way home. (Understand, he doesn't mind my driving, but I rarely drive more than an hour of a ten hour drive - it's one of those "taking care of me" things he wants to do himself. And I appreciate it. Interstate driving is not my cup of tea.) But we made very good time after a very late start. Brian was home from work on the 2nd, he went yesterday and today, but is still feeling pretty awful. Rosie, I think, has finally gotten to feeling better. I really like when kids get old enough to communicate details. And Ethan's cough has finally disappeared. Did I mention that I still need to go to the grocery store, and that Ethan's birthday is Sunday and I haven't planned a thing because I didn't know if anyone would be well? Yeah, we're starting the new year Byars' style. :^)

So. I've decided two things. First, I think I have unfulfilled perfectionist tendencies. As in, I try very hard to have things go perfectly or be perfect, but they virtually never live up to my expectations. Example: I didn't pick up my blog right away because I wanted a good "first post" of the year. But at the rate I was going it was going to be February.

And second, maybe I should have stuck with my unfulfilled perfectionist tendencies, because this post is way too rambling.

Hope you all are WELL this new year. I noticed that Walmart's cough syrup supply was dwindling.