Morning all!! 22 degrees and cloudy around here. Oh but the air is so fresh with a hint of pine as you inhale. Indeed there is joy in the morning and all the live long day.
March is coming in like a lamb around here but not everywhere I hear 😊
I just got a notification that today is my 15th anniversary of joining WordPress. Was it really that long ago? We were still in the WORLD mag blog and Chas was running for president, since he was more qualified than Obama.
Those were the days. I miss some of the regulars from back then. At least most of us still here were regulars there.
Good morning and good start to March. We hit a record high of 80° yesterday and may do the same today. It is overcast so the showy blooms on the trees, if white, do not appear as beautiful as when a blue sky contrasts as their background.
This week, a man killed his seven-month’s pregnant girlfriend, but the baby was saved by a C-section. I have been grieving about that baby and wondering if it will be adopted and never know of its early beginnings of life or if family members will tell the child.
Good morning, all. A beautiful day in the neighborhood here with frost on the willow tops. I actually got a fairly good night of sleep as brother was here to care for dad. Of course, that meant the fire went way down but we are managing.
Yesterday my dad kept saying he needed to get back to Moscow as it is boring here and he does nothing. My brother and I planned to take dad out for a drive and see some historical sites (a favorite activity of his) but now he claims he has never been bored here and has too much to do. We will see.
We had more rain overnight and again (or still) this morning.
Abby had an ‘off’ day yesterday.
And I have a meeting to cover (virtually) that starts in just about 10 minutes.
But saw this followup to Paul Tripp’s column I posted from last week and, watching the talking (angry) heads on news programs these days and realizing we have an election just around the corner, thought it was (again) more than appropriate and speaks to our general condition in this day and age.
We in the church should be able to show “the world” how hard discussions and even strong disagreements are to be handled, rather than slipping into the same patterns we see all around us.
_________________
~ Last week I wrote about what it means to love another person with our words. For disciples of Jesus Christ, God-honoring and neighbor-loving communication cannot be defined simply by vocabulary selection.
The motivation of our heart and the intention of our message is what counts: “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29).
Because of digital media, “corrupting talk” and “hearing” are no longer limited to verbal communication. We talk, text, tweet, email, share, like, comment, and hashtag all the time. It’s now an inescapable part of who we are and how we interact with others.
So, for the next five weeks, I want to dive deeper into this area of our everyday social life. We will examine five biblical themes that can help expose, convict, restore, and transform our interactions and reactions in relationships.
(P.S. – I write about these themes at length in chapters 3 through 7 of my newest book, Reactivity: How the Gospel Transforms Our Actions and Reactions)
1. Sin
Saying that our interactions, reactions, and relationships are impacted and damaged by sin is obvious, almost too obvious. But it’s nonetheless important to say. And it’s important to state first.
Why? Because when you’re willing to admit that there is such a thing as sin—and more importantly, that you are a sinner—then you have opened the door to understanding your biggest problem and your biggest need.
We don’t have a communication, language, or vocabulary problem; we have a sinful heart problem. “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45).
Sinful hearts are self-centered at their core. Sinful people are not naturally motivated by a love for others. Sin is driven by what we want, when we want it, how we want it, and where we want it, no matter what.
Sin shrinks my awareness and field of my concern down to my wants, my needs, and my feelings. It’s me in the center, it’s me in control, and it’s me writing my own rules.
Sin tells me that I have a right to state my opinion and that I have a right to express it however I wish. I have a right to call you out, to put you down, and to dismiss your feelings, no matter the damage or consequences.
Where the self-centeredness of sin lives, productive, insight-producing, relationship-building, unity-producing, change-motivating communication dies.
But praise be to God! There’s a death that leads to life: “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
If you want to experience God-honoring and other-loving interactions, we need to pray with David: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).
We need to pray for a clean heart that loves. A heart controlled by the love of Christ listens, reads, and reacts well. A heart ruled by sin carries hatred, chooses vengeance over mercy, and is more eager to blame than confess.
No wonder our interactions and reactions are so toxic.
When we cry out for help, God willingly hears and answers, greeting us with grace that is more than up to the task. His grace secures an eternal future when we will be free of this communication toxicity forever, but it also promises fresh starts, new beginnings, and better relationships today. ~
I’ve given Abby the title of “editorial assistant.”
She’s coming into the office room frequently, standing at my elbow, looking up at me, looking at the computer …
What, you’re telling me the deadline is looming and I’d better get to it?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, leave me alone.
Everyone’s an editor — but you must start as an editorial assistant.
I advised her the title comes with no money or raises, of course, but may give her a press badge to wear on her collar and some minimal standing over the cat. Or not.
We had a nice adventure. We drove over to the local mammoth museum and saw the mammoth skeleton extracted from nearby Tolo Lake in the nineties. Dad got out and walked around in the snow and was properly impressed. The mammoth is about fourteen feet tall, it is impressive. Then we went over to Tolo Lake to see where the mammoth and others were extracted. He very much enjoyed the drive so we will plan other outings for him.
That sounds like a very nice adventure, mumsee. So glad your dad enjoyed it so much and was able to walk around. I love seeing those old skeletons and illustrations that they usually have of what the area must have looked like with those creatures roaming where we’re now standing. I’m sure you’ve been to our “tar pits” over the years. One of my favorite haunts for just hanging out during summer vacations (once I was in college and had a car).
We’re having some very cold, for us, weather plus a lot of wind; it’s a smidgen over 50 degrees outside here now, so I may don a knit cap for the dog walk in a little while. Seeing some snow flurries as close as Burbank/Hollywood areas, but none in my yard that I’m seeing just yet …
I’m hopeful Abby will be up for the walk today, she’s been much more animated than she was yesterday when I was unable to get her to go out for a walk. 😦
Mumsee and brother had to drag him out of the chair but once on the road, he was quite engaged. But by mid afternoon, he had forgotten going. Fortunately, brother put up a mike movie on you tube and dad remembered.
Wandering Views 
I continue absolutely swamped, but I do stop in to check on you all each day.
The arrival of that big baby means I’m the maternity replacement for at least a month.
Meanwhile the rest of my life is piling on, too.
There’s joy in the morning.
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Morning all!! 22 degrees and cloudy around here. Oh but the air is so fresh with a hint of pine as you inhale. Indeed there is joy in the morning and all the live long day.
March is coming in like a lamb around here but not everywhere I hear 😊
LikeLiked by 2 people
Good Morning!
I just got a notification that today is my 15th anniversary of joining WordPress. Was it really that long ago? We were still in the WORLD mag blog and Chas was running for president, since he was more qualified than Obama.
Those were the days. I miss some of the regulars from back then. At least most of us still here were regulars there.
LikeLiked by 5 people
Good morning and good start to March. We hit a record high of 80° yesterday and may do the same today. It is overcast so the showy blooms on the trees, if white, do not appear as beautiful as when a blue sky contrasts as their background.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This week, a man killed his seven-month’s pregnant girlfriend, but the baby was saved by a C-section. I have been grieving about that baby and wondering if it will be adopted and never know of its early beginnings of life or if family members will tell the child.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Peter, I posted the link to the church service with the Hispanic pastor, but then realized it is on Facebook and you might not be on Facebook.
Yes, much to miss about Chas!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good morning, all. A beautiful day in the neighborhood here with frost on the willow tops. I actually got a fairly good night of sleep as brother was here to care for dad. Of course, that meant the fire went way down but we are managing.
Yesterday my dad kept saying he needed to get back to Moscow as it is boring here and he does nothing. My brother and I planned to take dad out for a drive and see some historical sites (a favorite activity of his) but now he claims he has never been bored here and has too much to do. We will see.
LikeLiked by 4 people
We had more rain overnight and again (or still) this morning.
Abby had an ‘off’ day yesterday.
And I have a meeting to cover (virtually) that starts in just about 10 minutes.
But saw this followup to Paul Tripp’s column I posted from last week and, watching the talking (angry) heads on news programs these days and realizing we have an election just around the corner, thought it was (again) more than appropriate and speaks to our general condition in this day and age.
We in the church should be able to show “the world” how hard discussions and even strong disagreements are to be handled, rather than slipping into the same patterns we see all around us.
_________________
~ Last week I wrote about what it means to love another person with our words. For disciples of Jesus Christ, God-honoring and neighbor-loving communication cannot be defined simply by vocabulary selection.
The motivation of our heart and the intention of our message is what counts: “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29).
Because of digital media, “corrupting talk” and “hearing” are no longer limited to verbal communication. We talk, text, tweet, email, share, like, comment, and hashtag all the time. It’s now an inescapable part of who we are and how we interact with others.
So, for the next five weeks, I want to dive deeper into this area of our everyday social life. We will examine five biblical themes that can help expose, convict, restore, and transform our interactions and reactions in relationships.
(P.S. – I write about these themes at length in chapters 3 through 7 of my newest book, Reactivity: How the Gospel Transforms Our Actions and Reactions)
1. Sin
Saying that our interactions, reactions, and relationships are impacted and damaged by sin is obvious, almost too obvious. But it’s nonetheless important to say. And it’s important to state first.
Why? Because when you’re willing to admit that there is such a thing as sin—and more importantly, that you are a sinner—then you have opened the door to understanding your biggest problem and your biggest need.
We don’t have a communication, language, or vocabulary problem; we have a sinful heart problem. “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45).
Sinful hearts are self-centered at their core. Sinful people are not naturally motivated by a love for others. Sin is driven by what we want, when we want it, how we want it, and where we want it, no matter what.
Sin shrinks my awareness and field of my concern down to my wants, my needs, and my feelings. It’s me in the center, it’s me in control, and it’s me writing my own rules.
Sin tells me that I have a right to state my opinion and that I have a right to express it however I wish. I have a right to call you out, to put you down, and to dismiss your feelings, no matter the damage or consequences.
Where the self-centeredness of sin lives, productive, insight-producing, relationship-building, unity-producing, change-motivating communication dies.
But praise be to God! There’s a death that leads to life: “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
If you want to experience God-honoring and other-loving interactions, we need to pray with David: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).
We need to pray for a clean heart that loves. A heart controlled by the love of Christ listens, reads, and reacts well. A heart ruled by sin carries hatred, chooses vengeance over mercy, and is more eager to blame than confess.
No wonder our interactions and reactions are so toxic.
When we cry out for help, God willingly hears and answers, greeting us with grace that is more than up to the task. His grace secures an eternal future when we will be free of this communication toxicity forever, but it also promises fresh starts, new beginnings, and better relationships today. ~
LikeLiked by 2 people
Peter, I found a new way to share the Sunday message.
https://youtube.com/@rehobothchurchfamily9527?si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE
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This month will be a year since we lost Chas. 💔
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😦
LikeLiked by 4 people
I’ve given Abby the title of “editorial assistant.”
She’s coming into the office room frequently, standing at my elbow, looking up at me, looking at the computer …
What, you’re telling me the deadline is looming and I’d better get to it?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, leave me alone.
Everyone’s an editor — but you must start as an editorial assistant.
I advised her the title comes with no money or raises, of course, but may give her a press badge to wear on her collar and some minimal standing over the cat. Or not.
LikeLiked by 5 people
We had a nice adventure. We drove over to the local mammoth museum and saw the mammoth skeleton extracted from nearby Tolo Lake in the nineties. Dad got out and walked around in the snow and was properly impressed. The mammoth is about fourteen feet tall, it is impressive. Then we went over to Tolo Lake to see where the mammoth and others were extracted. He very much enjoyed the drive so we will plan other outings for him.
LikeLiked by 5 people
That sounds like a very nice adventure, mumsee. So glad your dad enjoyed it so much and was able to walk around. I love seeing those old skeletons and illustrations that they usually have of what the area must have looked like with those creatures roaming where we’re now standing. I’m sure you’ve been to our “tar pits” over the years. One of my favorite haunts for just hanging out during summer vacations (once I was in college and had a car).
We’re having some very cold, for us, weather plus a lot of wind; it’s a smidgen over 50 degrees outside here now, so I may don a knit cap for the dog walk in a little while. Seeing some snow flurries as close as Burbank/Hollywood areas, but none in my yard that I’m seeing just yet …
I’m hopeful Abby will be up for the walk today, she’s been much more animated than she was yesterday when I was unable to get her to go out for a walk. 😦
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Go, Abby-Dabby!
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(I often call my doggie Heidi-Piedy.)
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My Los Angeles aunt was surprised that I always chose La Brea tar pits over Disneyland, every time. But I don’t think she minded.
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Bosley-Wosley
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This is the Mammoth Museum we enjoyed:
https://www.nps.gov/waco/index.htm
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I must hand it to that dad. He is able to get Mumsee to go somewhere for an adventure
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Mumsee and brother had to drag him out of the chair but once on the road, he was quite engaged. But by mid afternoon, he had forgotten going. Fortunately, brother put up a mike movie on you tube and dad remembered.
LikeLiked by 2 people