I found some papers where I had written lines from various sermons, just things to think about:
You don't get to pick your hills; your hills pick you.
They aren't actually ashamed of you; they are ashamed of Christ.
We do not obey to be saved, we are saved to obey.
Don't settle for mortification mediocrity.
Conviction and condemnation are distinctly different.
In fact, the balcony work started a week or so ago, but it started at the end of the building, and I'm near the middle. At the end of last week, the scaffolding went up outside my windows and a note was left under my door saying that they would start this week. They have started.
They put up blue netting around the scaffolding and such to keep tools and such from flying too far if they are dropped. When I look out the window, everything has a blue tinge and it doesn't look quite real. Also, if I have the blinds open, the light coming in is slightly blue.
I can't go out on the balcony. They put up caution tape and a sign, but also blocked the sliding door and the second door to the bedroom. Of course, once they have the balcony torn up, I won't want to go out there! It might be done already; I've kept the blinds shut so strange men can't see in the apartment.
It has been very noisy this morning as they are working on my balcony and the ones around me: hammers, saws, drills, and so much banging. They are also putting up scaffolding further down the building, so there is the noise of metal against metal. I can also hear the voices of the men, although not usually words, and sometimes I can hear their radio.
I may have to work elsewhere this summer. The library and I may become best friends as I seek a quiet place.
Things are starting to wrap up for the summer. There are two more weeks of Sunday School, one more Bible Study, one more Women's Discipleship class, one more Women's Ministry event, two more work-related things (a conference/staff meeting and a book club call)…and that's it. It sounds like a lot when it's all written down, but by 2:30 on June 4th (11 days from now) it will all be done!
I will have piles of spare time starting in June (and a fair amount most of next week as well, until the conference on the weekend). The only thing left on my schedule is vacation and a bit of tutoring Of course, I also have a long, long list of things to take care of this summer.
Things I need to work on:
-- Preparing for Sunday School in the fall (including figuring out how to adapt a curriculum for The Pilgrim's Progress for my class)
-- Going over the Christmas concert costumes, making repairs, and making more costumes as our numbers have increased
-- Going over the first year Church History curriculum, making corrections and adjustments, and creating outlines
-- Preparing items for the Women of Grace blog
-- A whole lot of reading
It's a lot of stuff, but it's all things I can work on as I wish rather than "this needs to be done now!" and there will be plenty of time for fun reading and relaxing and such.
And by fall, I'll be looking forward to everything starting up again.
On Saturday I will be speaking on Women of Church History at the wrap-up for this year's women's study. It took some time, but I finally decided upon three very different women who served in very different roles to talk about. I want them to see that God uses women in different ways and that God is sovereign and faithful. Our responsibility is to do the job God has given us to do and love the people He has given us to love.
Two of my women are famous in their own right: Jeanne d'Albret was queen of Navarre and Lillian Trasher started an orphanage (quite unexpectedly) and cared for hundreds of orphans, widows, and the blind.
The third woman, though, is only famous because of her son. I could find very little about her and she show up mainly in the first chapter or so of her son's biography and then disappears. She is only a footnote in the history of missions in China, but she played her part faithfully.
Amelia Hudson was the daughter of a Wesleyan minister and became a Christian at a young age. Her family was poor and she had to start working as a governess when she was 16 years old. By then her neighbour, James Taylor, had already expressed his desire to marry her; however, they had to wait for him to finish school and establish himself. They were married on April 5th, 1831; eighteen months later, they were joined by a small son, James Hudson Taylor, called Hudson to distinguish himself from his father. He was followed by Amelia Jr., and other children.
Amelia was kind and gentle with a rich sense of humor. She was respected in the local church where she taught Bible classes for girls. She was also known for her hospitality to strangers, especially believers. She and James were committed to raising their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. When Hudson was born, they had committed him to the Lord, specifically for work in China (Hudson did not know this until he was much older).
The Taylor family attended church regularly and had times of family worship together with Bible reading, prayer, and singing. Early on, Hudson developed an interest in spiritual matters and even missionary work. Things changed, though, when a teenaged Hudson started working at a bank. There, he found that many people mocked the Christian faith and he soon joined in with them. He also became drawn to the love of money and the pleasure it could buy. He was on a slippery slope to rejecting Christianity altogether.
When he was around 17, poor eyesight forced Hudson to resign from his work at the bank and he went to work with his father. Although his father loved him, he was too impatient with his wayward son and risked driving him further away. Amelia, however, understood Hudson better and remained kind, gentle, and patient with him. While she continued to talk to him about his need for God, she knew that the best thing she could do for him was to pray, and she did, for two years. When she was on a holiday away from her family, she felt compelled to increase the length and earnestness of her prayers. One day she felt burdened to pray for Hudson right away and spent hours in prayer. Then she suddenly believed that her prayers had been answered and began to praise God for her son’s salvation.
Meanwhile, back home Hudson had been bored and was looking through his dad’s bookshelves for something to read. He found a tract called “Poor Richard” and, after reading the story and the words “the finished work of Christ”, he fell to his knees and committed his life to Christ. When his mother returned home and he went to tell her the news, he was surprised that she already knew because she had been praying for him all that day. He later learned that his younger sister, Amelia Jr., had committed a month earlier to pray for him three times a day until he was saved.
Hudson Taylor left as a missionary to China in 1853, knowing that his mother was still praying for him. He was instrumental in starting China Inland Missions, which was dedicated to bringing the gospel to all of China (until then, most missionaries stayed near the coast; Hudson and his organization brought the gospel as far inland as they could). When Hudson Taylor died after 54 years in China, CIM had 825 missionaries and more than 18,000 Chinese Christians had been baptized.
This is what we learn from Amelia Hudson Taylor: Even children from godly homes may turn from God to the pleasures of the world. When that happens, the best thing you can do is to pray for them. When they won’t listen to you, pray for them. When they seem to be turning further away from God, pray for them. Trust God with your children. Love them, be patient with them, and most of all, pray for them.
That's it: that's the legacy of Amelia Hudson Taylor: she was faithful to pray for her wayward son and kept trusting God for his salvation. And in that, she is a model for mothers today.
I recommend Devoted by Tim Challies if you would like to learn more about mothers of famous Christians, and the important roles they played in the lives of their sons.
Confession time: I only put The Boys in the Boat on hold at the library because I thought it was written by Laura Hillenbrand, the author of Unbroken. It isn't; it was written by Daniel James Brown. It was a happy mistake, though, because I quite enjoyed the book.
The full title of the books is The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The library copy had a picture of them rowing on the front. There was no big mystery about the topic or the ending of the story. Despite this, it was a very, very good book and there were times when I was concerned that they wouldn't win one of the key races (to be America's team to the Olympics; their heat in Germany) even though I knew how it ended. There were other times when I wondered how they would overcome the obstacles. Keeping the story interesting and the tension of the races high when I already knew the ending is the sign of a good writer.
The book centers on one of the boys, Joe Rantz, a young man who had been abandoned by his family more than once, who was fighting to find his place in the world, and who saw rowing as a way to stay in university. His story alone is worth reading the book. It also delves into the backgrounds of other major players: the rowers, to various extents; the coaches; the man who makes the boats and knows the art of rowing inside out; the young lady Joe marries in the end. Brown weaves all their stories together.
Brown also delves into some of the history of rowing and its various events. He talks about the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl years. Periodically, he moves over the Germany for a glimpse into Hitler's plans and how the Olympics were designed to make the world think that everything was fine and dandy in Germany (even though it was already getting dark there).
Overall, I found this to be a well-written and very interesting book. I'm thankful for the happy mistake that led me to it!
We have been sorting through the immense donation we received for the church library. Among the regular books you would expect to find in a pastor's library -- theological works, commentaries, a really large number of Bibles, doctrine, creeds and catechisms -- are the others, among them:
-- a nice collection of hymnals and songbooks (not really strange to find in a pastor's library, except for the number and variety of them)
--health and home remedy books
--a few novels, most of which would show up under women's fiction
--one of the Dear Canada books (a series of historical fiction for grades 4-7) with a school library stamp in it; I wonder if it's missing from the library
--most perplexing: three very small board books for very small children; each page has a picture on one side and a word on the other
Also interesting are the things we find in the books: receipts, invoices, letters, shopping lists, to-do lists, pamphlets, photographs, a bill of sale for some cows, reminders about appointments.... among the things he used as bookmarks, there has so far been exactly one actual bookmark!
It's been an interesting experience going through the books!
I found this quote while researching Richard Wurmbrand; it is from his book Victorious Faith:
“There was once a fiddler who played so beautifully that everybody danced. A deaf man who could not hear the music considered them all insane. Those who are with Jesus in suffering hear this music to which other men are deaf. They dance and do not care if they are considered insane.”
Yesterday I had a family from the church over for dinner. They have 3 children; the oldest is in my Sunday School class and she has two younger brothers. I don't know any of them very well, which is why I invited them over: so I could get to know them a bit.
It was awkward at times as we tried to get some sort of conversation going. The kids were happy playing with Lego and the dad joined them. The mom and I were able to talk about books as we're both readers so that helped. I'm not always much of a talker so it was challenging for me, but it was my house and my job to make them feel comfortable, so I did my best. We did better as we ate; I remembered to ask good questions, asking for specifics about what the dad does (not just what his job title is, but what does he actually do and how did he get interested in that career), which helped and I think we all relaxed and were able to branch out from that. I also did a round of "what do you do for fun?" with the kids.
Overall, it was a good evening. We all learned a bit about each other and the kids had fun playing. They found my Mr. Potato Head collection and had fun making the silliest creations. Conversation didn't flow the way it does with some people, but it wasn't bad. I'm pretty sure I said some "let's make things a bit more awkward" things as I tried to keep going, but nothing that seemed to kill the conversation.
Next time we're together will be a bit easier because we're over the first "getting to know each other" hurdle. Now there's a bit more of a link between us.
Hospitality can be hard. I'm not always good at conversation and I'm always a bit nervous when I have new people over. It's worth the effort, though; I've made some of my closest friends because I've taken the plunge and invited them for dinner. Other people have not become close friends, but we're friendlier at church and different events; letting them into my life by having them into my home helps bridge any differences between us.
It's still a work in progress, but I am trying to step outside my comfort zone in this little way.
The roofers seem to be done; they're working on the next building over now (there are four buildings in my complex). However...the notice came on Thursday that we had to remove all items from our balconies because they are starting on the balconies on Monday. There are flower pots and planters stashed all over my apartment now.
Last summer they did the balconies across the parking lot. Actually, the didn't finish the entire building until almost spring. It seems there were unexpected issues. They basically seem to take down the railings, tear apart the balconies, rebuild them, redo the pillars (they're white now on the other building instead of brick), and put the railings back up. It took all summer and into fall to do the front of the other building and most of fall and winter to do the rest of the building.
I don't mind them redoing the balconies and I figure the have a reason. I can even live without the balcony for the summer. It's just the part where there will be workmen on the balcony so I'll have to keep things closed up or have strange men looking in. The roofers weren't a problem; I could see them going up and down sometimes, but they didn't bother me. Also, I am not looking forward to the noise.
It's going to be a different summer. I may sometimes have to flee to work at the library on the very noisy days.
Wednesday morning women's study ended today, a couple weeks earlier than planned. That means the end of my Wednesday morning homeschool rooms. I brought them suckers to celebrate surviving another year, so the kids were happy. I'm good with a break now, although I know I'll miss them by the time we start up again in the fall.
This year I read at least 44 picture books to the little kids. Between the middles and the board room kids, we played around 42 trivia games from around 16 decks. We also did a variety of crafts with varying levels of success. They would like to do most of them again: the puzzles, puppets, cards, and woven friendship bracelets.
I already have a stack of books on my "for later" list at the library to start us off in the fall, as well as a list to look for at used books stores this summer. I would like to find more trivia cards since we're missing at least half the set, although they are hard to find (at least for a price I'm willing to pay). I have more craft ideas running through my head as well.
So I'm ready for a break and planning for fall all at the same time! I really love my homeschool kids and I love Wednesday mornings.
