Joyfully At Home: Cover Up!!

Miss Jasmine Baucham has done it again! Go over to her site and read this excellent post on modesty and loving our Christian Sisters.

Joyfully At Home: Cover Up!!

Well done, Miss Jasmine!

Remembering one of my Dad's favorite authors

"Is there no refuge from strife? Is there no place of refreshing where a man can prepare for the battle of life? Is there no place where two or three can gather in Jesus’ name, to forget for the moment all those things that divide nation from nation and race from race, to forget human pride, to forget the passions of war, to forget the puzzling problems of industrial strife, and to unite in overflowing gratitude at the foot of the Cross? If there be such a place, then that is the house of God and that the gate of heaven. And from under the threshold of that house will go forth a river that will revive the weary world." (Christianity and Liberalism [1923], 180-81)
Greshem Machen

Hat Tip to National Center for Family Integrated Churches blog.

Election 2008 results are in!

For a timely reminder, read Doug Wilson's article from a few days ago. It is excellent.

Ten Things to Keep in Mind After the Election.

1. God is still Father, Christ is still at His right hand, and the Holy Spirit is still abroad in the world, recreating that world according to the image of Christ. When the nations conspire against Him, He laughs at them.

2. The most important thing we can do for our nation, and for the world around us, is to gather for worship every Lord's Day. The privilege of voting in presidential elections comes to us every four years, while we are graced with the opportunity to take the Lord's Supper week to week. Right worship reforms the Church, and is therefore God's central instrument for remaking the world. For this reason, we must insist on worship that is in accordance with Scripture. Judgment begins with the household of God. Our generation is fatherless. In the power of the Spirit, in the name of the Son, we must therefore worship the Father.

Read the rest...

Little Ones in Church, a link.

One of the things our church has sought to do is include the little ones in the service. We treat them as though they belong with us, because they do. We used to have a full-fledged Sunday school or children’s church during the “adult” service way back when, but over the years it has fallen out of use. The parents wanted to keep the children with them rather than send them off to their own service.
Read the rest at Nancy Wilson's blog Femina

Our Second Annual Church Campout

We had a wonderful time at the Williamsburg Christian Retreat Center this past weekend. The weather was just beautiful and almost everything went off as planned, except that we had a late start and well...THE ACCIDENT!

We arrived on Friday afternoon to set up our tent. I looove camping because I like to play house. I love setting up my kitchen area, hanging my little laundry line and getting my stove set up. I like sweeping out my tent and making the beds. I like setting up the table and getting coffee right on incase anyone stops by...I love camping!

The first thing on the agenda was a campfire, with devotions, hotdogs and s'mores and ending with hayrides. The campfire didn't get started early enough, and neither did the hotdogs - note to self: when you put the cold hotdogs in the hot water, the water gets cold and has to heat up all over again! So we sang some songs while we waited for the hotdogs.
After hotdogs, we went down to the fire area and had s'mores. The hayrides were scheduled for a set time so they had already begun, so the devotion leader decided to put them off until the next night. Conrad brought glow-bracelets for all of the children which was very smart. We were able to see if any kids wandered off in the dark. We walked back to the campsites about 11:00.

On Saturday we awoke and had breakfast. We planned to share breakfast with the family at the neighboring campsite, so she brought sausage patties and I made begniets - yum!

At 10:00 there were events for the kids, the older ones had signed up to try a zip line in the woods as well as a tree climb...up 80 feet and ring the bell! The kids who were too little for those events had relay races organized by Steven and the wonderful K family. It was great fun watching the little ones and I think it went very well. Lunch was back at each campsite, we had sloppy joes, carrot sticks and chips.

The afternoon was reserved for free time, though there was a big flag football tournament planned. That's when IT happened.

One of the men playing crashed into another player and got a concussion. When he came to, he didn't remember any of us (only his wife and children) or where he was. AND scariest of all to us, he couldn't remember anything we told him. We spent a nerve-wracking several hours hearing him ask, "what happened?" every minute or so. He wasn't exhibiting any other signs, his eyes were doing what they are supposed to and he wasn't experiencing any pain so on the advice on the medical person present we watched and supported his wife. She was amazingly calm, though his teenage daughter was really shaken by listening to her dad ask the same questions over and over. The guys gathered around him a couple of times to lay hands and pray for him and each time he said, "What are they praying for me for?" Finally after a couple of hours he was taken to emergency room where they confirmed what our medical guy said. Nothing more than a concussion, it will mostly all come back to him in 24-48 hours.

Dinner was BBQ catered by Red, Hot & Blue. It was very good, but next time I will not order as much pulled chicken and will order more sausage. Volunteers brought delicious desserts.

After dinner and clean up we had our Psalm sing, and requests as well. For the hymns/psalms we were going to sing on the Lord's Day, we broke up into parts and learned to sing them "excellently".

Then the dance, and though I sat out ( I felt amazingly well all weekend, but I wasn't going to push it), it was so fun to watch. There was the Virginia Reel of course, and several mixer dances that were so much fun to watch. I especially liked the Scottish Polka. The young men practiced asking the young ladies' fathers if they could dance with their daughters, which was fun. We got the call that Mr. S was coming back from the hospital and that he would be fine. It was cool to see our young people gather in a circle and pray with his daughters. We also heard at the same time that Ryan was home with his family, there was much thankful praying going on and some tears I saw (and shed) too!

Sunday dawned early...You know, when I heard the rooster crow early Saturday morning, I thought, "A rooster, how quaint!" On Sunday, when I was awakened two hours earlier than I planned it was more like, "KILL THE CHICKEN!" Breakfast was hashbrowns with onions and peppers fried with sausage and covered with scrambled eggs...kind of a macho omelet. We also made little apple pies in the pie iron, well, because we could.

We walked down to the pavilion for church and it was very nice to have church outside. The breeze was very nice, though the sun shone hot on one side of the pavilion. After worship we had lunch together. Half of the church had made chili, frozen it, and heated it in their crocpots at the campsites, the other half brought bread and dessert. We also had leftovers from the night before and salad. It was neat to see the variety of chilis there, I brought white chili, it was good, I think.

After cleanup we stayed as late as we could and headed home about 4:30.

About Mr. S...boy do we have stories to tell on him! Apparently on the way to the hospital he was very loopy as well as the rest of that first night. Once when he asked for the millionth time what happened his wife said, "You jumped out of an airplane and the chute didn't open." He said, "Really!?" and she said, "No, not really." Of course, a minute later, he said, "What happened?" She had a lot of patience with him, especially when on the way to the hospital he kept repeating, "I don't recognize anything around here, you're lost, pull over so I can drive." She would just say, "You've had a head injury, you don't remember anything, be quiet." And then he would say it all again. Wouldn't that drive you crazy?



We are glad that by Sunday he recognized us and though he didn't remember the actual accident, remembered that he had indeed had one and what had happened. Today his wife reports that he is beginning to remember everything, including what he was told in answer to his many questions. We sure love the S family and are glad for their contribution to the entertainment at the annual campout.

Last year when it was so cold, we were going to name it the Annual Insanity Campout. I think that the name still fits, don't you?

I hope to get some pictures up, perhaps dear Jon K will shoot some our way...I never remember to take pictures. Doh!
*Edit* There are pictures over at my Xanga...I'm too lazy to load them on here, too.

Prayers of the Church

This prayer was prayed at church yesterday during worship. I want to meditate on it this week.

Father in heaven, we raise our voices in thanksgiving to You, confessing that we are unable in ourselves to do good or to seek after You. Left to ourselves, we seek only our own peace, our own comfort, our own pleasure. It is Your Holy Spirit who works in us, giving us hearts to love You, changing us, and sanctifying us and our desires so that we may truly seek to glorify You in all that we do. So we pray, dear Father, that You would soften our hearts to hear Your Word, and quiet our wills that we may be guided by Your Spirit. Enable us to see past our own fleshly desires so that, in all we do, Lord, may we seek Your honor and glory.

We pray for the hastening of the day when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that You are the One, True God and that salvation is found in none other than Your Son. Continue to work in Your people to make our efforts effective for the advancement of Your kingdom. Use us as leaven to work in the world around us, transforming lives, throwing down everything that sets itself up in opposition to You, and bringing all things into subjection to Your throne of grace. Give us boldness to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to those around us, and grant that our words would go forth in power to bring the multitudes into Your Church.

Give us also a burning desire to see Your Church built up in faith and good works, washed by the water of Your Word, and cleansed from every spot and wrinkle, that we might be presented to You perfected at the end of time as a Bride for our Bridegroom, Christ Jesus. Give us a sense of urgency to minister within your Church, seeking not only to bless, but also to edify and to exhort one another unto holiness in our lives. Use our worship—the preaching of Your Word, the singing of praise, our prayers and the celebration of the sacraments—to nurture in us an abiding desire to walk worthy of our calling as Christians. Remind us of the privilege that is ours to lift up before You our fellow saints throughout the world, and especially those who worship in the face of persecution and martyrdom. Comfort them with the knowledge that their trials are a fleeting thing compared to the glory that awaits them in the world to come.

Lastly Father, we pray for our needs. We lift up to You all those who suffer from illness, infirmity, and difficult circumstances. We pray first of all for peace and a faithful witness in the midst of trials. We pray that You would be glorified in how we respond to adversity, and that Your strength would be made perfect in our weakness. Remind us that You love us, and that everything You bring into our lives is done out of love for us, Your children. Keep us faithful to You as we seek after healing, as we seek after work, as we look forward to moving and to the birth of new children. And in all this, Lord, grant us what we need. Give us this day our daily bread. In Your mercy, grant us healing, jobs, homes, and safe delivery of children.

Heavenly Father, where there is sin in our lives, root it out and grant us repentance. Where there is complacency, give us zeal for You and Your kingdom. Where there is pride, humble us. Where there is corruption, grant us a desire for purity in thought, word, and deed. Where there is anger and bitterness, grant us a desire for peace. Where there is selfishness, grant us generosity and abundant love. Where there are idols in our lives, give us the desire and the determination to cast them down. And in their place, may we exalt You, our glorious God and King.

We ask all this in confidence, knowing that as we seek Your will for our lives and as we sincerely desire to obey You in all things, we know that You will lead us not into temptation but will deliver us from the Evil One. And so we lift all these prayers up to You and rest in the knowledge that You are our faithful covenant keeping God, praying through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.