The Royal Wedding Nap

Reading a Dora Book

She just told me she wants to be a princess when she grows up!

Lunch with Family and Friends

Hallelujah! Christ Arose!

Low in the grave He lay, Jesus my Savior,

Waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord!

Up from the grave He arose,

With a mighty triumph o’er His foes,

He arose a Victor from the dark domain,

And He lives forever, with His saints to reign.

He arose! He arose!

Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Vainly they watch His bed, Jesus my Savior;

Vainly they seal the dead, Jesus my Lord!

Death cannot keep its Prey, Jesus my Savior;

He tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord!

The Ivory Palaces

My Lord has garments so wondrous fine,

And myrrh their texture fills;

Its fragrance reached to this heart of mine

With joy my being thrills.

Out of the ivory palaces,

Into a world of woe,

Only His great eternal love

Made my Savior go.

His life had also its sorrows sore,

For aloes had a part;

And when I think of the cross He bore,

My eyes with teardrops start.

His garments too were in cassia dipped,

With healing in a touch;

Each time my feet in some sin have slipped,

He took me from its clutch.

In garments glorious He will come,

To open wide the door;

And I shall enter my heav’nly home,

To dwell forevermore.

Worst. Day. Ever.

The events of Thursday night and Friday must have been a surreal nightmare, a madman's collage. With "the triumphal entry" still in their minds, the apostles had suddenly seen everything turned on its head, beyond their darkest imaginations. They must have fallen asleep — assuming they fell asleep, since that was about all they were good at — with numbed hearts and bedazzled minds.

But then Saturday dawned. Reality hit. It had really happened. They were now waking up, for the first time in three years, with no Jesus. That meant no Messiah, no Lord.  No hope, no guide; no one who really knew what He was doing. No point to doing what they had all left their jobs and their lives to do.

And nothing had changed overnight. He died Friday. He was still dead, Saturday.

Horrible, throbbing reality settling down on their chests like a massive elephant. What now? Dear God in Heaven, what now? What do we do? What do we say? What do we tell the crowds? What do we tell our families? Do we go back with our tail between our legs, and beg for our jobs back? And what, what do we make of the world now, now that we had repented because the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand... and yet it seems more distant than ever?

- Dan Phillips via Pyromaniacs

Believe

via youtube.com

Bearing Them for Christ, The Chief Shepherd

When Jesus called a group of unremarkable individuals to serve with him, he sent them out as spiritual shepherds to "the lost sheep of Israel." This mission defined their ministry as an extension of his pastoral service to those who were sick and in bondage. Their work was a reflection of the concerns of the Good Shepherd who gave his life for the flock. Every disciple was a shepherd called to the messy work of caring for people, of shouldering their various needs, and bearing them for Christ, the Chief Shepherd.

- Timothy S. Laniak, While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks

Lydia's Drawing for Psalm 5

O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me.

- Psalm 5:3, 8

With All the Energy of His Holy Soul

We cannot fail to see in reading the Gospels that the Lord Jesus with all the energy of His holy soul spoke of the eternity of future punishment for the lost. It was this that brought Him from heaven, that led Him to plead with men, that made Him agonize for souls. It was this that led Him to the cross to open a way for men to escape the wrath of God. It is fitting, but most solemn, that nowhere in the entire word of God is the teaching as to future punishment so clear as in the Gospels, and from the lips of Him who said: "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

- Ridout, The Four Gospels

The Margin of a Shoreless and Fathomless Sea

We stand here on the margin of a shoreless and fathomless sea; and for my part I venture to think that the men who talk about the incredibilities and the contradictions of the orthodox faith would show themselves a little wiser if they were more conscious of the limitation of human faculty, and remembered that to pronounce upon contradictions in the doctrine of the divine Nature implies that the pronouncer stands above and goes around about the whole of that nature. So, for my part, abjuring omniscience and the comprehension of Deity, I accept the statement that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit come together and dwell in the heart.

- Alexander Maclaren

Up Early to Play with "Pollies"

Cousins

Sam's First Caribou Coffee

I'm so proud...I think.

Lydia's Drawing for Psalm 4

In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

- Psalm 4:8

[This is a drawing of Chloe and Lydia in their bunkbed...accurate to the exact color of pajamas. Note that Chloe was wearing polka dotted pajamas...but that's apparently tough for the 4 year old mind to visualize!]

Another Tooth Out

Most hockey players have more teeth now!

The Flooded Red River

See the full gallery on Posterous

Chloe and I were at my grandparents this afternoon assisting with some paperwork. On the way home we drove over the Main Avenue bridge and decided to take a closer look at the mighty Red River of the North. The picture does not do it justice...THERE IS A LOT OF WATER MOVING THROUGH TOWN!

A Rebuke Goes Deeper ((tag: Words of Life)

A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool. 

- Proverbs 17:10 http://esv.to/Pr17.10

Lydia's Drawing for Psalm 3

I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.

- Psalm 3:5