Thoughts from Acts

I've been reading through the New Testament and I'm up to the book of Acts right now. Most mornings I read a chapter and make some notes of things I find interesting. These are just some of my thoughts.

Jesus gives them a job and then the means to do the job.

When God sent the Holy Spirit, the noise was enough to attract the attention of the people in Jerusalem, so they were gathered to hear the gospel.

The apostles were quick to give glory to God (in contrast to various other people who wanted glory/power/etc. for themselves).

The gospel was not limited to any particular group (Jews, Gentiles, men, women, rich, poor...).

Every meeting was a chance to spread the gospel.

Timothy was "well spoken of" by the believers; that and his parentage are all we know about him, but he became Paul's faithful companion.

Luke just sort of joins the narrative, switching from "they went" to "we went" with no mention of how or why he joined them.

From the Children

I have a group of Sunday School girls over and the conversations are... interesting...

"You could cook a hotdog on his mustache."

"We're not a bunch of old ladies to sit around and gossip."

"I was ironing one of my siblings..."

A song: "Doritos... Doritos... where are the Doritos?"

"Oh, no... that was the other red yo-yo!"

"Do you like moose...or pizza?"

"If someone gave you a pet deer, what would you do with it?"

"She's my best friend, so I can be rude to her."

"I need a calmer craft than agonizing painting, like gluing with deadly glue guns."

"There's so much things you have to learn about growing up."

Home Education Conference

I was at the AHEA Home Education Convention over the weekend. It was fun and overwhelming and busy and full of books and learning!

My highlights:

I met Douglas Bond! He writes Christian historical fiction, speaks about church history, and does European church history tours. I was in his sessions of Renee of Ferrara, John Knox, and Anne of Bohemia. He's brilliant, he knows so much, and he tells the stories so well! I learned so much listening to him and now there's so much that I want to research and learn more about. Meeting him was a bit overwhelming and I may have fangirled a bit. (But who else would I fangirl over than a historian who writes Christian historical fiction?)

There were so many bookstores represented in the exhibit hall. There were home education stores with educational books, some Christian bookstores with a wonderful variety of books, and some used bookstores as well. The one used book section was large and crammed with books (mostly children's books given that it was for homeschoolers). I bought a pile of picture books, some novels (two of Douglas Bond's books, one of which he signed for me), and some history books. I also bought a pile for the church library.

Among the crowds were several people I knew, some of whom I hadn't seen in a long while. It was fun to have some time to chat and catch up on the news. 

I also learned about some different curriculums, sat in a session about parental rights, bought shirts from one of my students who was selling custom designed t-shirts (one for me, one for the small granddaughter, and a onesie for the baby due this summer), and found some new decks of trivia cards for the Wednesday morning kids.

In all it was a good time, and I was happy to come home and recover after!

Sermon Thoughts

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.

The Balcony Work has Started

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.

Slowing Down

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.

The Boys in the Boat: A Review

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!