God-less? Introduction

There are only two books of the Bible out of 66 that leave out any mention of God – Esther and Song of Songs.

What is the intent behind their God-lessness?  What theological gains can be had from studying a book that fails to make a single mention of the “Theo” from whom that particular science investigates? 

The answer is: Huge.

The authors of those books, though maybe not fully cognizant of the messages they were about to convey, did not “slip up” by accidentally leaving out the Creator of the universe.  In fact, God used them in this regard to send a message to His children.  The message is simply this – “Through the darkest and brightest moments of your life, I am working through you, and I love you with a passion that rivals that of the greatest of lovers – essentially, I AM when you least expect it!”

This may be THE central theme of the entire canon.

I hope to prepare an exposition of Esther first, and then when the time is right, one on Song of Songs.  Don’t worry, the header will give you plenty of warning in the event your kids read our blog over your shoulder (Song of Songs’ significance is diminished to the immature reader).

Until then, take some time to read through Esther and Job.  Job may be long, but I believe the books are connected such that understanding of one builds greater understanding in the other.  Take a week and I’ll try to convert the Word that has been laid on my heart into digits and we’ll meet again.

He is Risen!

Easter morning was an early one this year! I really wanted to go to the 6am sunrise service on the beach. Then, I remembered that everyone had nice, new Easter clothes and had second thoughts! But to God's glory we got all dressed up and made it with no stress! It was cool and breezy and then got cooler and breezier and rather damp, as the cloud that had been over the water in front of us was blown onto the land on top of us! Some sweet parishioners at the chapel with us provided the kids with blankets to keep warm. I reveled in the joy of the morning, the moist cool air blowing over me, the knowledge that my Savior was raised to life for me and that His Grace is enough.

We then had a blessed time of fellowship at the base Marina, while a hot breakfast was served to us. Then, when we got home (at about 8:30am!) and changed our clothes, I gave the kids' their Easter baskets, er, I mean Easter lunchboxes. (Despite cleaning out my closet, the guest room closet and half of the garage, I never found their baskets!) Well, they had not remembered that part at all! They were so touched by the book they each got along with their tiny, hollow chocolate bunny and a few eggs with candy and a couple of pencils.

Saturday morning was to be the designated "egg hunt" time. Go get the silly eggs and then go home. Well, leave it to the Tyndall AFB Youth Center to make it a huge production! It was a blast for the kids with bouncy houses, crafts, free cookies and lemonade and an age appropriate hunt for each kid. Again, I was touched at how much fun the kids had! Sometimes, I feel we give them too much. They all were so thankful and expressed that this was one of the most fun things they've ever done! Of course, it was one of the 25 most fun things they've ever done, but the fact they said thank you made me feel like the kids and me and the world were a little closer to center than I sometimes think. Then, our neighbor hid eggs with prizes for our three and three other kids nearby. They had such a great, fun couple of days. AND, they still get that Easter isn't about the candy and eggs, but about Jesus rising from the dead after He saved us from our sins! Thank you, Lord, for your sacrifice and for loving us and the world every day!

He is Risen Indeed!

Why did He become flesh?

Why did He teach?

Why did He surrender?

Why did He die?

Why did He rise?

 

Because He

loves.

 

Happy Easter!

Living on the Edge...

...somebody pull me back to safety! In the last 48 hours I have had a child get stung by a Portuguese Man of War, a nine inch lizard in my house (harmless, thankfully!) and just almost lost one out an upstairs open window!!! I will leave out the details so as not to publicly incriminate the guilty parties. I'm not sure what's going on, but please continue to pray for us and our safety as well as David's! And, I echo every mother's prayer when I ask you: pray I can be the mother to these kids that God wants me to be!

First Piano Recital!

Well, in addition to having birthdays and playing baseball, Andrew and Elizabeth also began piano lessons on March 1. The lessons are here in our home, which is wonderful for me for several reasons. It gives me an added incentive to get the laundry folded and put away that's been on the couch for a day, and secondly, I don't have to load everybody up and drive them to an activity. We actually eat lunch and keep living life while she is here! Having lessons in our home makes it so much more personal--so much more like a lifestyle than just another activity. As wonderful as this is, our teacher is even more wonderful! Mrs. King has taught piano for 62 years!!! She is sharp as a tack, has great communication skills, drives a big blue pick-up truck, adores the children, has several cats and at least two dogs and brought us fresh sugar snap peas last Tuesday! (I just finished the last of them as an after dinner snack!) Did I mention she adores children? She just laughs and laughs with them as they tell her stories from their lives. And she tells them stories from her life, or about her experiences with other students or about herself as a little girl! Hannah likes to dress up, showing her all her play dresses and likes to have her piano lesson as well, which lasts about 30 seconds. Last week, she ran out of the house after Mrs. King, saying, "I love you, I love you, I love you and I want to give you a hug good-bye!" For those of you who know Hannah, getting this personal with someone she's only seen once a week for 6 weeks, this is a huge stretch. It says a lot about this delightful woman. I posted their portions of their very informal recital on YouTube. They have four recitals a year. We did not know she would be announcing each song, and the kids were prepared to play through each song they were playing in a certain order with no interruptions. All the announcing their pieces and applause threw them off a little bit, but it's still delightful to see what they've learned and that they enjoy playing for others. Here's the site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd1S8jdA7JU Look to the left to see the option to watch Elizabeth's pieces! She's wearing a navy blue dress and is in braids. Enjoy!

Play Ball!

Ok. Well, the plays aren't quite as exciting as the big leagues yet, but they are really learning a lot and seem to like it so far! The whole team listens to the coaches and the coaches patiently explain and re-explain where to stand, how to catch, how to throw, where to throw, how to bat, where to run, etc. It's a coach pitch league for 5-7 year olds. If the child doesn't hit the ball within 5 pitches, they pull out the tee. Andrew is technically too old, but he doesn't have a lot of experience and the older league was already full. The way I see it, God knew I wasn't ready to have kids on two different teams as a single parent right now! These are pictures from their game on Thursday. They have games every Monday and Thursday through mid-May. In the very top picture, Andrew is playing catch with his friend and his friend's dad (who happens to be his Cub Scout leader!). The last picture is of our little cheerleader!

Eclipse and Super Moon!

The picture on the top, the yellowish one, is the picture of the Super Moon rising over the Florida panhandle treeline along the edge of St. Andrew's Bay. We were watching it rise from our docked boat. The picture on the bottom is a slightly fuzzy picture of the eclipse of the moon that occurred shortly before Christmas. It was the first eclipse I have ever seen in person and it was a really neat experience! I will not forget getting all bundled up and setting up my tripod and then laying on the kids' bean bags in the quiet cool, gazing up at the moon in the clear sky. I never could get too relaxed though because my ear was ever open for the sound of an approaching bear!!! That would have truly made the eclipse unforgettable, but thankfully no bears interrupted my moon watching that night! Isn't God's creation breathtaking?

Happy Birthday, Elizabeth!

Elizabeth is now a very grown up six years old, as of April 4. She really had a wonderful birthday with some very special moments over the weekend before her Monday birthday. However, the big event was her "Tangled" birthday party last Friday. (If you haven't seen this movie, you definitely need to! There's some magic and a really bad lady, but Elizabeth thinks it is "Christian made" because of the powerful ending! I won't ruin it for you. Watch it and see!) So, we had a doughnut "tower" cake. That was the highlight of the party, I'd say. There were seven girls including Elizabeth ranging in age from four to ten years old. The party began with painting (just like Rapunzel) and making their own "Wanted" posters (another part of the movie). Then I braided everyone's hair and put silk flowers in the braids, just like Rapunzel. (You better believe I was braiding fast!) Then we played "Hide the Chameleon". Andrew somehow happens to own, not one but two toy chameleons, and Pascal, Rapunzel's pet chameleon, played a main role in the film. We finished up with the doughnut cake and raspberry lemonade and gift-opening. She was pretty worn out after all that excitement! She also received a Bible for her birthday. She made "official" the work God had been doing in her heart to me on February 15, praying to ask Jesus to be the Lord of her life since He had loved her so much He'd died for her sins. It doesn't get much better than that! She also loves art, so in addition to a neat art set she received from her grandparents, her dad and me and brother and sister gave her paints (washable!), paper and an easel. She's painted nearly every day since!

Happy Belated Birthday to Andrew!

Andrew turned eight years old on March 7. He had a skating birthday party with three friends and their siblings (and parents!) in attendance. They got a little bit of video game money, plenty of lemonade, soda, hot dogs and cake and ice cream, and a ton of skating! The party was scheduled from 12-4! We were exhausted, so we quit at 3:30, after the last guest left, of course. As you can imagine, skating in low light conditions did not provide a very good environment for skating pictures. Even with my expertise (ha, ha!), it proved to be too great of a challenge for me! So, only cake and present pictures. He saw the cakes at the commissary and decided to go with a dinosaur cake with an exploding volcano. I know. That's really cool to an eight year old! I was a little sad that he didn't want me to make him a cake or cookie, but I was really relieved that the cake could be marked off the list just like that! The gift he has enjoyed the most has proved to be his Action Bible, from his dad and me. It's most of the Bible portrayed in graphic novel/comic book style. Some of the pictures and the general style of the drawings is a little offensive to me, especially in something as sacred as the Bible, but I've learned to look past that, and spent time reading it with Andrew. He's really learning a lot and we know that the truth is going forth and being planted deep within him. We believe it will grow a strong, tall tree one day and bear much fruit!