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Good morning!
Today’s quote is from a philosopher: “All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end…This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.”
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The race for No. 2
Good morning! It’s Pascal, I think.
Please pray for all of our little ones as they are growing up! I know we *always* pray for our children, and the next generation, etc.; but I had a thought the other day that I believe was from the Lord. I don’t know about where you all live, but around me there are TONS of boys being born into believing families. Most of my extended church family, school family, and friends have a large proportion of boys in their families. Not to deny the importance of godly womanhood (that’s a whole nother story 8*)), but could this overwhelming blessing of boys be God’s way of providing a revival in future years? If they are brought up “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord”…Just a thought. Would love to know what you all think.
momoffour, I work with preschoolers at my church and there does seem to be more boys than girls. My first choir had seven boys and three girls.
TJ, I noticed in a thread yesterday that you mentioned Harold Camping. I had been thinking about bringing him up here, myself. I was wondering if anyone else had heard his latest rantings? I listen to FR a lot because they play the most beautiful Christian music, but turn it off as soon as any “preaching” or the Open Forum comes on. Once in a while, though, I’ll leave it on just for the entertainment of hearing what he’s into now. Turns out he’s 1) decided there is a “rapture” after all, occurring on May 21, 2011; 2) the final return of the Lord will be five months later on October 21, 2001 (not sure what time, ha ha); and 3) there is no hell, after all, just total destruction for unbelievers. Anyone else ever tune in for some chuckles?
Also, TJ & Cameron - wondering how the kitty is doing. What did you name her?
Camping Trip is still alive?
In my daughters class, the girls outnumber the boys so much that have to have girls playing the boy parts in the class plays.
I’m not sure if more boys are being born or not or if there are more being born to Christians or not. I have 3 daughters and 0 sons. I now have 5 grandsons and 1 grandaughter. OTOH, my husband’s brother has 3 sons and now has 3 grandaughters. I just believe God knew what each of us needed. I am enjoying having the grandsons, while my sister-in-law is no thrilled to have some little girls to buy for and play with. I would love another little grandaughter or two and more grandsons, but would be content with all I have already been blessed with. I prayed for all my children before they were born and all their lives. I do the same for my grandchildren. My prayers have become less selfish as I read and study the bible more and with God’s help. I am also far more aware of how important prayer for our own family’s is and for each other.
I was once head of the prayer ministry in a quite small church. One of the things I started was a ministry for prayer for each of our Sunday School students. Each fall one of our members, who is very artistic, made laminated bookmarks out of an old calendar. She cleverly cut out scenes with bible verses on for one side of the bookmark and then put plain cardstock on the other side. On the blank side was written the teacher’s name for a class and the first names of the pupils. Early in the school year the congregation was asked to volunteer to take a bookmark home and commit to praying for that class. The hope was that many older people, who could not contribute in other ways, would find this a ministry in which they would be a blessing, and also have an added connection with the congregation. I know this would not work in many churches, but it worked well in ours and could possibly be adapted for others.
Janie wins! Pascal is correct. Please enjoy your digtal cappucino…
~~0)
One other prayer discipline with respect to children:
Years ago, when our daughter was in school, I would pray not only for her, but her friends and their families, Christian or not. None of us — certainly not our kids — lives alone. Even now, 15 years later, I still think of those kids, and still pray for them that (some) would find their way Home.
Momoffour,
I work with one group of children, about 30 (more actually but typical attendance any one week is about 30) 5- to 7-year-olds who come to church on Saturday evenings. I have no reason to think it is representative of the larger population, but I have been struck recently by how many boys we have. My small group, which would be about a dozen children if they all came at the same time, is almost all boys. Another group is also almost all boys, while the last two groups are more of a mix, though still at least as many boys as girls.
When all the different age groups get together, both Saturday and Sunday classes (the children lead worship music for the church twice a year), I don’t notice a disproportionate number of boys. One possible reason for our particular class having so many boys is that Saturday evening, the children have class during church, while on Sunday morning the class meets after church. So parents who would rather have their children sit with them in church are going to prefer to come Sunday mornings, while parents who find it difficult to keep young boys sitting for an extended time may prefer to come on Saturday.
My son’s daycare classes have always been mostly boys! When he was 2, he had one girl out of 20 or so, and she only attended part time. Now, at 5, his class includes 3 girls of 23 kids total. Maybe there was a “wave” of boys at the time he was born? Not sure, but I have noticed lots of ‘em!
Harris, #9, that is true of me also. I joined a Mom’s in Touch group for a short time, but have mostly done this on my own. In addition I have always prayed for various friends of my children and still do. They will ask for prayer for friends and coworkers now and I will do the same; asking for them to pray for others. There are some I have been praying for for years and believe God keeps them in my mind for a reason.
Mommy,
I notified TJ of your question (by hollering to the other end of the house!), so he’ll answer you soon, hopefully.
We kept the kitten’s name the same–Jackie, a reference to the one-eyed jack, since she lost an eye to an infection. Actually, the adoption website hadn’t been updated and she isn’t a baby as we’d hoped; she’s more than six months old, but she’s darling. Our alpha cat is less than impressed, though, so they only have supervised time together.
Cameron, the kitten from our litter that we ended up keeping had an eye problem originally. His one eye didn’t open up until long after the other 11 did. I called him The-Guy-With-The-Eye, but my husband didn’t like that for a final name. His name is now Buster and his eye is now fine. Actually, it was somewhat interesting how he got that name. At first he was going to be my son’s but that didn’t work out (he went on a hunger strike to get back home with us) and my son named him Buster. After he was back here, the next morning he was goofing off and my husband said, “What are you up to, buster?” I asked him if he called him that because it was what our son had planned on naming him and he said he didn’t know our son had picked a name. So it was destiny that he was named Buster.
My kids’ classes are almost entirely girls.
Mommy, I don’t when I’ve listened to Camping in any recent memory. I remember being made aware of his rantings years ago and stayed away. The comparison I was making yesterday was basically his idea the church is finished and unredeemable, all Christians should pull out and just wait for the rapture (I guess), etc. Here’s an article on his lunacy: http://aomin.org/aoblog/index.php?itemid=268
Tuning in for “chuckles” gave me a chuckle. Of course, he is leading many astray, and that’s no laughing matter. But I thought of when I was in seminary and we had little money; we sprung for cable TV, but had just the lowest package, which was the local channels plus TBN and a local religious channel (for all you guys out there: that’s three years w/o ESPN!!!). Anyway, I would sometimes stop when surfing and listen to whatever was on one of the religious channels (for chuckles, I suppose). In less than a minute (usually), I would start ranting about whatever false teaching was being aired, to the point that my wife took the remote and removed those channels from the line-up! It worked, and my blood pressure was the better for it!
Please take my survey on the Bible at my blog.
It’s short and (I think) easy.
http://renaissanceguy.wordpress.com/2008/02/27/bible-survey/
We are coming up on two months since “the sabbatical” began. So what have you noticed? Have we turned on each other like ravaging wolves? Have we dropped out from boredom? Some have commented that it is just not as fun without the fighting/arguing. Is it?
What do y’all think of this? . . .
A Call to Radical Commitment
By Rick Warren
“Today I am stepping across the line. I’m tired of waffling, and I’m finished with wavering. I’ve made my choice; the verdict is in; and my decision is irrevocable. I’m going God’s way. There’s no turning back now!
“I will live the rest of my life serving God’s purposes with God’s people on God’s planet for God’s glory. I will use my life to celebrate his presence, cultivate his character, participate in his family, demonstrate his love, and communicate his Word.
“Since my past has been forgiven, and I have a purpose for living and a home awaiting in heaven, I refuse to waste any more time or energy on shallow living, petty thinking, trivial talking, thoughtless doing, useless regretting, hurtful resenting, or faithless worrying.
“Instead I will magnify God, grow to maturity, serve in ministry, and fulfill my mission in the membership of his family.
“Because this life is preparation for the next, I will value worship over wealth, ‘we’ over ‘me,’ character over comfort, service over status, and people over possessions, position, and pleasures. I know what matters most, and I’ll give it all I’ve got. I’ll do the best I can with what I have for Jesus Christ today.
“I won’t be captivated by culture, manipulated by critics, motivated by praise, frustrated by problems, debilitated by temptation, or intimidated by the devil. I’ll keep running my race with my eyes on the goal, not the sidelines or those running by me.
“When times get tough, and I get tired, I won’t back up, back off, back down, back out, or backslide. I’ll just keep moving forward by God’s grace. I’m Spirit-led, purpose-driven and mission-focused, so I cannot be bought, I will not be compromised, and I shall not quit until I finish the race.
“I’m a trophy of God’s amazing grace, so I will be gracious to everyone, grateful for everyday, and generous with everything that God entrusts to me.
“To my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I say: However, whenever, wherever, and whatever you ask me to do, my answer in advance is yes! Wherever you lead and whatever the cost, I’m ready. Anytime. Anywhere. Anyway.
“Whatever it takes Lord; whatever it takes!
“I want to be used by you in such a way, that on that final day I’ll hear you say, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful one. Come on in, and let the eternal party begin!’
“What does this mean?
“Today, I affirm this commitment to God and submit to his plans and purposes for my life, no matter what it takes.”
Momof4,
I hope that’s right!
We do need revival.
Badly.
I’d welcome a large onslaught of godly men.
It seems like the ones who are growing in numbers most rapidly are the Muslims.
Can’t stop to visit and read at the moment.
I have been very busy becoming a multi-media artist.
Am having the time of my life!
I miss you all, lately.
Mumsee writes: “Some have commented that it is just not as fun without the fighting/arguing. Is it?”
I thought I was keeping up with the fighting/arguing! And considering some of the threads with a large number of posts, I thought we were doing rather well.
I can’t speak to the boys/girls question, but I hope the fact that the alpha cat is unimpressed doesn’t mean that alpha cat is doing nasty things. I have a friend who took in a stray, a cute lovable little fellow, very friendly. But he really has it in for the original cat. He wants her gone. He attacks so often (and sneaky) that original cat stays in the bedroom and is afraid to come out. Fortunately, “mother” has an extra room and puts stray boy in there. (Spritzing him with water, my suggestion, hasn’t cured him.) Best of luck with the reprobate.
KarenO, I don’t have a problem with this particular offering of Rick Warren’s per se, but one wonders just what he means by it. What he has written means one thing to me, maybe another to him. He says he doesn’t want to be captivated by culture, but isn’t that what he’s doing when he embraces the “green” lifestyle and promotes that over salvation?
I’m still trying to recover from a delirous cold (I fell asleep at 10AM yesterday!), but have managed to read two more books:The Hiding Place, always a winner and still very good after all these years; and a finely written book called The Rest of God by British Columbia pastor Mark Buchanan. Buchanan’s book is wonderful about the meaning of sabbath-keeping and I recommend it as one of the better Christian books I’ve read lately.
The only thing I’ve got left to read is Same Kind of Different as Me.
Re boys vs. girls: My small church has more girls. One year while I was teaching first through third grade (two years ago, I think), we had ALL girls in that age.
My sister’s church, a much larger church (several hundred) had so many more girls to boys in their oldest son’s year that they finally put him in a class a year older. (They had maybe twelve boys and two girls, and they wanted him to be with other boys. They homeschool, so he is with boys at home, but they wanted him to have boys for friends.)
A friend of mine (in inner-city Chicago) commented years ago that he’d kept track for many years, and the number of girls born to unmarried mothers far out numbered the boys (three out of four or something like that). I have no idea if his numbers bear out over a wider area than his own experience, but it was a very interesting idea. Apparently modern research has shown that mothers do have something to do with the sex of their babies, not just fathers: Some family lines carry girls easier (lose fewer to miscarriage) and some, boys. (Boys as a rule have a statistically significant lower survival rate. More boys are conceived, but more die in utero–only slightly more than 50% of babies are male. And males have a worse life expectancy at every age of life, so somewhere ratehr early the numbers even out, up till the point when 100-year-old women FAR outnumber 100-year-old men.) So there could be something to the presence of a father leading to more boys born, who knows.
NJL,
The kitten is completely willing to be submissive, so I think it’ll shake itself out in time.
Alpha cat hisses and has chased her (once). Don’t know if she’d do nasty things if left unsupervised, though. We have the kitten downstairs and the alpha is choosing to remain upstairs, except when she must venture down to answer a call of nature.
Boy/girl ratio: We have few children at our current church, but the last few churches I can think of were pretty evenly mixed, but with large families.
Wordsmithing advice. Does anyone know the word ORANT?
(It means a female person praying, usually with hands outstretched).
Can anyone think of another word to describe a person who prays, other than pray-er?
Help.
(Brain is returning)
Cameron, you are lucky. My friend’s cats are already grown, and the new guy has not simmered down since coming inside the house (8 months ago). He’s the sweetest thing except where original cat is concerned, and she will not defend herself. My first cat was “submissive” when my sister’s cat would visit, but that would last only for a few days. He fought back and put her in her place. Then they got along. Maybe your alpha cat is just making it plain that she’s a tad put out that you brought in someone new. Maybe she doesn’t want to play and do kitten stuff. Let us know what happens.
Intercessor, Michelle?
Michelle,
I’ve heard ‘prayer warrior’ but am much more fond of VS’ ‘intercessor’.
Our church seems to have more boys.
I think there is enough arguing to keep things interesting. I actually prefer reading the absent one on his own blog.
I vote for “intercessor”. Except when referring to other kinds of prayer.
Yeah, intercessor is a great word. Another word that came to my mind is supplicator. (Is that really a word?)
Actually, Karen, I think the word you mean is supplicant.
On our “sabbatitcant”- I have been trying to get over to his blog, but have been busy. I noticed he posted a comment on Pauline’s blog recently.
And to think our “sabbaticant” thought we would forget him in a few days.