Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Sono Sato Harris Dies July 4, 2010

Read Randy Alcorn's tribute to Sono at his blog here. I was so impacted by Sono's life and death. She was as Randy says a world-class wife and gold-medal mother.
How fitting that her life passed while fireworks filled the Portland skies around her. She joins other famous Americans who have died on our nation's birthday, including John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Sono, though I never actually met you, you were a great inspiration. Thank you for your phone calls and emails, offering advice and assistance. You helped us start our speech club by answering my many questions when you had way more important things to do. You tried to help me improve my health with special water; though it didn't do much for me, your interest and care meant a lot.
See you in heaven!

Friday, July 2, 2010

Thoughts on Psalm 65

This is my journal entry for this morning:
Reading Psalm 65 today.
Ps 65:1 Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed.
I am struck by the second clause. When we make a vow, any vow, we must remember that God sees and hears us and expects us to keep it, even if the vow is to another human. Marriage vows, contracts, etc.—all are to be done as to the Lord, who holds us to our word. My study notes point out “When Israel brought petitions before the Lord, they frequently promised to offer sacrifices in response to answered prayer”.
v4 Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
the holiness of your temple. (I am satisfied! Better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere.)
v. 9 You visit the earth and water it…”
We would not survive w/o God’s continuing visitations upon our land, to water and enrich it. Let me not forget we are wholly dependent upon Him every moment of every day.
v. 9 continued: “the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it” God's supply never never runs out.
cf. Ps 46:1 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved.
This river can refer to three things that I can think of:
1. a river existing in heaven, before God’s throne, in the spiritual realm
2. a future river to exist in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 22), which may someday be one and the same as #1
3. the spiritual “river” of the Holy Spirit, that flows with living water out of the heart of every believer in Christ.
A song comes to mind:
I’ve got a river of life flowing out of me
makes the lame to walk and the blind to see
opens prison doors, sets the captive free
I’ve got a river of life flowing out of me
Spring Up O Well
within my soul
spring up o well
and make me whole
spring up o well
and give to me
that Life Abundantly

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Home Alone and Loving It

My husband and three children are vacationing in Kentucky and DC for two weeks while I hold down the fort here at home. THe first few days were a little rough as I tried to do too much, but on the whole I relish all this time on my hands to read and prepare for the next school year. Not to say I have been totally reclusive; my married children have both come by to see me and help me out when I needed it, and our friend and construction guy Jim M. has been working daily on our kitchen-dining remodel. Also my faithful housekeeper has been coming each week to get the house cleaned and in shape in time for the family's return.

I am enjoying Genesis in my daily morning devotions again. Genesis has always fascinated me. It is a glimpse into a long-ago mysterious world far removed from our own. My imagination runs wild trying to grasp what life was like for Adam and Eve and their progeny, when dinosaurs roamed the earth. It also strikes me how many things remain the same--i.e. the sinful nature of man. I invariably pull out one of my favorite resources, given to me by Caleb for Christmas a couple of years ago: the Adam's Synchronological Chart or History of the World. This marvelous 22-foot timeline is based on Ussher's Annals of the World, another wonderful book I purchased a few years ago from Master's Books. Ussher's Annals were universally accepted as the most reliable source for dating the beginning of human history based on scripture for centuries after its first publication in 1659. In the last 150 years that it has been largely ignored and discarded.

I believe every homeschool mother or father should own these resources. They were both produced before the influence of evolutionary theory had poisoned the minds of many Christian scholars and commentary-writers. Even to this day it is difficult to find prominent Christian teachers that do not reflect evolutionary influence on their thinking, though they may deny it. My ESV Reformation Study Bible, edited by R.C. Sproul and written by evangelical Christians who profess to believe the Bible as infallible, displays a disappointing cynicism towards some passages of Genesis such as the post-Flood genealogy. In contrast, the Adams-Ussher duo shows an uncompromising trust of the word of God, for saying what it means and meaning what it says. It is a breath of fresh air.