"You cannot, Madam, form a right judgment of yourself except you make due allowance for those things which are not peculiar to yourself, but common to all who have spiritual perceptions, and they are indeed the inseparable appendages of this mortal state. If it were not so, why should the most spiritual and gracious people be so ready to confess themselves vile and worthless? One eminent branch of our holiness is a sense of shame and humiliation for those evils which are only known to ourselves and to Him who searches the hearts, joined with acquiescence in Jesus who is appointed of God -- wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. I will venture to assure you that though you will possess a more stable peace, in proportion as the Lord enables you to live more simply upon the blood, righteousness, and grace of the Mediator, you will never grow into a better opinion of yourself than you have at present. The nearer you are brought to Him, the quicker sense you will have of your continual need of Him, and thereby your admiration of His power, love, and compassion will increase from year to year."

I ran across this piece by John Newton the other morning and I think it contains truth that Christians need to consider. We follow a holy God and He wants us to be holy too, but in that pursuit, when we have the ideals, morals and ethics of perfection as our goal, we can become disheartened sensing our many failings.

This piece puts perspective to it, in this candid letter to a lady he is mentoring.

I chose this picture because to me it symbolizes falling into the arms of Christ in complete helplessness.

Photo from the Internet

I spent the last week in Spokane, Washington with my son and his family. We arrived on the Fourth of July and enjoyed the huge firework display by the river. The next day, Sunday, we went to church and I got the treat of hearing my son preach what I think was one of Christendoms finest sermons. I realize I may be somewhat bias, but he is no novice behind the pulpit and the scriptures came alive, the anointing was there and I was captivated. During the sermon the true need of Christ and His church was apparent; a police car pulled up in front of the church, then another and finally there were five police cars directly in front of the church. There was a domestic disturbance in the apartment above the church and the police had to break down one door to remove a man and take him off to jail. Eric's wife, LeeElla, offered her assistance and helped the police find out what was actually going on because the woman spoke Spanish and the man spoke Russian, so the language barrier escalated a simple incident into an arrest. But two nights later, there was a far more serious situation; one block from the church, an argument escalated and one man drew a knife and killed the other. Jesus has grown this little store-front church right in the midst of great need; it is no cozy little church in the suburbs, but rather a refuge on the front lines of battle.
And the battles waged right in front of our eyes.

Later that week, one of the members of the church offered Eric the use of his cabin in the mountains, and we enthusiastically drove to the mountain paradise. I'm not sure who snapped this picture of me fishing off the dock, but it captures the moment far better than words can describe.

Here I am with my oldest son Eric preparing to catch dinner; hmmm, good thing we had hamburger along because we didn't exactly empty the lake :) But I did spend a spellbinding afternoon talking and drinking up the beauty with my son. I wish I could spend many more hours like this with all my children and grandchildren; we had such a great time.

Last, but not least, Mel and I got to meet face to face. My oldest granddaughter and I met on her lunch hour and it was so much fun to finally meet after blogging for so long. I have enjoyed Mel and her comments on my blog but I have to say after meeting her I have an even greater appreciation for her. Mel, you were so full of life, far prettier than photos can capture, and a joy to be with. It was a special part of my trip to walk and talk together, go to places you have written about and just soak up the sunshine that beamed from within you.

While we stood before this beautiful Catholic church, we couldn't help but think of Joseph; so, we had my granddaughter take this picture as we waved to you Joseph, we wished you and all our blogging friends could be with us.

I read a poem this morning about the drudgery of the poor. This poem speaks of a woman who works making clothing and her thoughts as she continues sewing in fatigue and boredom. I won’t quote the entire poem for it is lengthy, but I think you will be moved by the stanzas I include.




The Song of the Shirt
Thomas Hood


“Work – work – work!
Till the eyes are heavy and dim!
Seam, and gusset, and band,
Band and gusset, and seam,
Till over the buttons I fall asleep,
And sew them on in a dream.

“O men, with sisters dear!
O men with mothers and wives,
It is not linen you’re wearing out!
But human creature’s lives!
Stitch – stitch – stitch!
In poverty, hunger and dirt;
Sewing at once, with a double thread,
A shroud as well as a shirt.

“But why do I talk of Death?
That phantom of grisly bone;
I hardly fear its terrible shape,
It seems so like my own.
It seems so like my own,
Because of the fasts I keep;
O God! That bread should be so dear,
And flesh and blood so cheap!

“Work – work – work!
My labor never flags;
And what are its wages? A bed of straw,
A crust of bread and rags.
That shattered roof – and this naked floor,
A table – a broken chair;
And a wall so blank, my shadow I thank
For sometimes falling there!

“Oh, but to breathe the breath
of the cowslip and primrose sweet –
With the sky above my head,
And the grass beneath my feet;
For only one short hour
To feel as I used to feel,
Before I knew the woes of want,
And the walk that costs a meal!”

Photo by Stephen Buhagiar

So, if you didn't watch America's Got Talent last night and missed Thia Megia's performance, I would strongly recommend you go to their web-site under video performances and watch her sing. Unreal, truly unreal!

I hate computers!!!!!!!! I love computers!!!!!!!!!!!! ........They depress me.
But, I finally got mine out of the hospital and I can post once more, yippee! I can't access my email, which is what the picture is referencing; when will Mr. Gates figure out how to make a truly user friendly computer that helps poor computer illiterate souls like me? In my lifetime I hope.

A lot has happened since my last post, I found another job after 26 years working for the same place. I got a lead on a job with Teen Challenge, which is a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program started by David Wilkerson and the Assembly of God church. Students, (people who volunteer for the 9 month program), after de-tox, are put right to work; one of those places is in a Thrift Store where they receive goods, help sort merchandise, price, deliver and pickup, and all the tasks necessary for the business. The Thrift Store provides nearly half the funds for the program and Teen Challenge needed someone to oversee and manage the men and the business. The men need to learn business ethics, successful life skills and of course need Godly counsel and encouragement to succeed in their commitment to overcome their addiction. I interviewed for the job and as God would have it, I was hired. Praise His name! I am so enthused and can't wait to begin - start date July 16th. So please pray that I would walk in the wisdom of God as I work with the men and work to grow the business so others will have the opportunity to join the program. There is no cost to the men, and women, in the program. So funding is a very important part of success.

Now I will spend the balance of the evening trying to get the other functions of my computer up to speed.

Picture from the Internet

I was reading a piece by Max Beerbohm on laughter just for fun, and I was intrigued by his style and I thought the two following parts were entertaining,
hope you enjoy.

“As to what is most precious among the accessories to the world we live in, different men hold different opinions. There are people whom the sea depresses, whom mountains exhilarate. Personally, I want the sea always – some not populous edge of it for choice; and with it sunshine, and wine, and a little music. My friend on the mountain yonder is of tougher fiber and sterner outlook, disapproves of the sea’s laxity and instability, has no ear for music and no palate for the grape, and regards the sun as a rather enervating institution, like central heating in a house. What he likes is a grey day and the wind in his face; crags at a great altitude; and a flask of whisky. Yet I think that even he, if we were trying to determine from what inner sources mankind derives the greatest pleasure in life, would agree with me that only the emotion of love takes higher rank than the emotion of laughter. Both these emotions are partly mental, partly physical. It is said that the mental symptoms of love are wholly physical in origin. They are not the less ethereal for that. The physical sensations of laughter, on the other hand, are reached by a process whose starting-point is in the mind. They are not the less “gloriously of our clay.” There is laughter that goes so far as to lose all touch with its motive, and to exist only, grossly, in itself. This is laughter at its best.”

“……I utter a course peal of ----laughter.
At least I say I do so. In point of fact, I have merely smiled. Twenty years ago, ten years ago, I should have laughed, and have professed to you that I had merely smiled. A very young man is not content to be very young, nor even a young man to be young: he wants to share the dignity of his elders. There is no dignity in laughter; there is much of it in smiles. Laughter is but a joyous surrender, smiles give token of mature criticism. It may be that in the early ages of this world there were far more laughter than is to be heard now, and that aeons hence laughter will be obsolete, and smiles universal – every one, always, mildly slightly, smiling. But it is less useful to speculate as to mankind’s past and future than to observe men. And you will have observed with me in the club-rooms that young men at most times look solemn, whereas old men or men of middle age mostly smile; and also that those young men do often laugh out loud and long among themselves, while we others – the gayest and best of us in the most favorable circumstances—seldom achieve more than our habitual act of smiling. Does the sound of that laughter jar on us? Do we liken it to the crackling of thorns under a pot? Let us do so. There is no cheerier sound. But let us not assume it to be laughter of fools because we sit quiet. It is absurd to disapprove of what one envies, or to wish a good thing were no more because it has passed out of our possession.”

This second piece will have little appeal if you are young, but if you are an old-timer like me, I think you will, sadly, relate.

Top Photo by Om Mishra, bottom photo by Miguel Ramos

I was reading more of John Owen, about how God rescues His people, and he made a list of 6 ways God commonly comes to the aid of his people and as I read over it a few times, I was struck by the first method and how many times have I seen this come to pass. Times when I was at my wits end, circumstances seemed entirely impossible to over come, and low and behold, a change took place that defied all reason, and I was left praising God for another miracle of deliverance. All of the six methods of God below are the things that give me hope when I am down.

David’s plea in Ps. 25:20; “Guard my soul and deliver me;
Do not let me be ashamed, for I take refuge in Thee.” captures the essence of Owens quote.


“And rest upon this, that God has innumerable ways that thou knowest not of to give thee deliverance; such as –

1st. He can, by some providence, alter that whole state of things from whence thy temptation doth arise, so taking fuel from the fire, causing it to go out of itself; as it was with David in the day of battle: or,

2dly. He can tread down Satan under thy feet, that he shall not dare to suggest any thing any more to thy disadvantage (the God of peace shall do it), that thou shalt hear of him no more; or,

3dly. He can send an affliction that shall mortify thy heart unto the matter of the temptation, whatever it be, that that which was before a sweet morsel under the tongue shall neither have taste or relish in it unto thee,-- thy desire to it shall be killed; as was the case with the same David: or

4thly. He can give thee such supply of grace as that thou mayst be freed, though not from the temptation itself, yet from the tendency and danger of it; as was the case with Paul; or,

5thly He can give thee such a comfortable persuasion of good success in the issue as that thou shalt have refreshment in thy trials, and be kept from the trouble of the temptation; as was the case with the same Paul; or,

6thly He can utterly remove it, and make thee a complete conqueror. And innumerable other ways he hath of keeping thee from entering into temptation, so as to be foiled by it.”

What a mighty God we serve!

Painting from the Internet

In John Owens classic book titled “Temptation and Sin”, he discusses, in chapter 15, some of the causes of our souls decay. In this particular quote he is talking about Sloth and Negligence and its effects on our soul. I remember reading this about 10 years ago and I loved his application from the Song of Songs –

“So was it with the spouse in the Song of Songs, chapter 5:2; Christ calls unto her, verse 1, with a marvelous loving and gracious invitation unto communion with himself. She, who had formerly been ravished at the first hearing of that joyful sound, being now under the power of sloth and carnal ease, returns a sorry excusing answer to his call, which ended in her own signal loss and sorrow. Indwelling sin, I say, prevailing by spiritual sloth upon the souls of men unto an inadvertency of the motions of God’s Spirit in their former apprehensions of divine love, and a negligence of stirring up continual thoughts of faith about it, a decay grows insensibly upon the whole soul. Thus God oft complains that his people had “forgotten him;” that is, grew unmindful of his love and grace, - which was the beginning of their apostasy.”

If you read this in Song of Songs it certainly brings the text to life.

Picture by Lee

Having posted a half a dozen of Beecher's practical quotes, I thought I would jot down something more theological; so this quote summarizes his thoughts on "What is the Christian religion?"--

The Christian religion is not a system of laws. It is a state of the heart. The Christian religion is not a philosophy of truth as it relates to man's nature and duty. It is a soul-life. It is not an inventory of truths as they existed before man came into the world, and will exist after he passes away. The Christian religion, in respect to each particular man who believes in it, is a state of facts in his own consciousness. Christ in a man - that is the Christian religion. It is Christ dwelling by love in his heart, or dwelling in his heart by faith. Out of this will grow many doctrines, and many inferences; but it is the seminal form, the germinate element, in Christianity. It is the personal relationship of the individual heart to the Lord Jesus Christ as its supreme head and lover. That not only makes a man a Christian, but brings him into the central point of the Christian system. Everywhere in the New Testament this one element stands forth - the personal identification of the human heart with the Lord Jesus Christ."

Well said Henry, in my estimation.