The Day the World Went Wacky

Another book arrived today that turns out to be an answer to prayer. For a while now I've been looking for a book that explains the Fall. I want to have it to share with kids, especially my own, as they become more aware of William's disabilities. I called Joni and Friends and they didn't know of any. I emailed Stephanie Hubach (author of Same Lake Different Boat) and she didn't know of one. I'd even thought about writing one myself. Then today one of the books I ordered for home school came, and it's the book I've been looking for!

The Day the World Went Wacky starts out,
"A little while back, I was eating my lunch
When I got out an apple and took a big crunch.
The next thing you know, I was in a big chair
With my mouth open wide and my feet in the air.

And just as the dentist put in a huge filling
(My ears were half deaf with the noise of the drilling),
A really hard question came into my brain,
And my really hard question was DID GOD MAKE PAIN?"

Author Janine Suter goes on to explain the Genesis account of the Fall and what it means for us today. She takes as much time to explain the effects of the Fall as to tell the story. She does a good job of explaining God's "riddle" about a coming Savior and how God sacrificed an animal ("Animals can't really pay for our sin, But Jesus' blood can, and this pointed to Him.") Her one page about "...into the world this sin has brought death, and cancer and pimples and shortness of breath..." is very similar to what I would have written myself, only better.

She doesn't talk as much about God's work of restoration through Jesus as I would have. But she does mention it at the end:
"Now no one can go and see Eden today,
Because Noah's Flood has washed it away.
But God has a plan to make everything new
For all those who love Him.
Does that include you?"

I'm excited to use this book when I do an orientation for the kids in his children's ministry class this fall.

Amazing Orchestration

Mark Prater, the founding pastor of the church where Eric and I met and now SGM Board member, is coming to town this weekend. Considering our city is nationally despised and on the edge of the SGM map, and considering the busyness of this season for him, that's amazing.

How can it be? you ask. Why do we get a weekend with a Board member- meeting with our pastors, leadership team, and a church family meeting with him? Has any other SGM church had a Board member at their family meetings, with time for a Q&A? Why do we get that kind of privileged treatment? Is it just the favor of God? Yes, it is.

Darren has been the senior pastor of this church since before Eric and I moved here. But he has never been officially ordained. It was just one of those things that sort of fell through the cracks. And God sovereignly arranged it that Darren would finally get ordained now- in the midst of this controversy. Isn't that wild?

I feel for Darren. I know it's hard for him to enjoy the moment with all that is going on. But he's definitely showing himself to be the man God has chosen for our church for such a time as this. And God has used the timing to give us personal access to Mark Prater. It's so sweet to feel His hand in the storm.

Living History

Do you ever feel like you're living in a biography? I have this week. And as I've prayed for wisdom, I've thought of some of my biography friends.

-What would John Murray do?

-You know how John Adams said, "We have not men fit for the times"? I sure hope we're as wrong as he was.

-Remember how Hudson Taylor prayed and told God that he didn't know what he was doing, and so if God wanted him to start this mission, He would have to take charge of it? And sure enough, Taylor made some major mistakes the first year he brought other missionaries to China, and the young mission almost collapsed. Then God had Taylor's daughter get sick and die, and that removed hard feelings and united everyone again....

God have mercy on us!

Eternal God

[I know that people often avoid discussing controversies. A man at the church here told me how when the church left PDI years ago, no one talked to anyone else about it. They didn't want to gossip or influence each other. So no one knew what anyone else was doing, and in a very difficult season, they each walked alone.

I don't want to gossip, and this is not a forum for discussion, but I don't want to walk alone. So I'm going to share my experience as we go along. Thanks for listening, and more importantly thank you for praying.]

Yesterday the Sovereign Grace Board posted the results of the first panel regarding CJ Mahaney's qualifications for ministry. As much as I could see it coming, my heart still sunk when I read it. I told Eric, it felt like my world was falling apart.

Today I was encouraged by the words of this worship song. I'm not sure if I have them all right or who the artist is, but the truth helped me.

Eternal God
Though the earth should tremble and the oceans roar
And the mountains slip into the sea;
I shall not fear any harm, with your powerful arms around me.

I worship You, Eternal God
I worship You, the Unchanging One
Before the angels ever sang one song
Before the morning star had ever shone
You were on Your throne,
Eternal God

Though men’s kingdoms crumble and the nations rage
And rulers and kings come and go;
Yours is the Kingdom unshaken, and You’ve never forsaken Your own!

I worship You, Eternal God
I worship You, the Unchanging One
Before the angels ever sang one song
Before the morning star had ever shone
You were on Your throne,
Eternal God

[Post Script: Eric told me tonight that Mark Altrogge wrote this song in the early 90's, which makes it even more sweet to me...]

Book Reviews

I mentioned before that I've been a home school wannabe since I was a child. So it's a dream come true for me to start to plan some (very basic) home school units for this year. In addition from benefiting from our large library system, I have started buying books online. A few have arrived already. I thought I would review them as we go along for any other mothers of preschoolers out there.

A is for Adam by Ken and Mally Ham- Not as good as I'd hoped. The subtitle is "The Gospel in Genesis," which sounded promising. I had watched a video of Ken Ham back in high school and knew he was big into creationism. Our first unit is on creation and dinosaurs, so I thought it would be a perfect fit. And the parts about dinosaurs and extinction were good. The pictures were entertaining. But the gospel part focused heavily on judgment- fire insurance salvation. The snake is a huge red dragon, Adam and Eve get literally thrown out of the Garden, the angels at the entrance look angry and mean, and it gives substantially more pages to sin and judgment than to the gospel and grace. Bummer. Maybe we'll use the first few pages or save it for when we're older and can more easily fill in gaps.

This is No Fairy Tale by Dale Tolmasoff- I bought this book because it has a forward by John Piper. Not sure that was wise or not, but this book is great! Beautiful pictures, deep concept presented clearly so even young children can understand- an inspiring contrast between kings in fairy tales and our King Jesus. I'm so excited to use this book as part of our royalty and castles unit! My plan was to talk about Jesus as King anyway- and this looks like the perfect book to do that.

Each page shows two pictures- a small one showing what it would look like if the gospel was a fairy tale- Jesus would be born in a castle and loved by all and lived an easy life and died in honor, etc and a large one showing what really happened along with a short description. It ends with saying how the story of Jesus is really true and, "If you and I trust in Jesus, this story will turn out much better than a fairy tale for us. We really will live happily every after!"

Roll Over

Abby rolled over for the first time this morning. She cried herself through it, but then we celebrated so much, I think she was happy.

Happy Birthday, William!

William turns 6 today. It's hard to believe my boy is growing up. I know I post a lot on this blog about his (and our) challenges, but the fact is he is a joy to us and everyone he knows. We thank God for him!

We had a family party for him on Sunday. I didn't get any pics, but here are some of Grandma B's. We'll be having a friends party at the park tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.