I have been gripped lately by how comforting, exciting, restful and amazing the thought of our all-powerful, all-knowing, all-controlling, all-initiating our God is. These thoughts have been shaped mostly by the teaching of
Pastor John, but also by a few other resources.
When we were in Alpena for Thanksgiving, Mom gave me a few books. One of them was
Climbing
the Heights a devotional compiled by Al Bryant. It was my dad's book, given to him by his Aunt Hilma and Uncle Max. (Great names!) I took it mostly because of that, but it has proven to be a great way to start my mornings, filled with thoughts like this from this morning.
Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path.
-Psalm 27:11
"God only is holy, He alone knows how to lead His children in the paths of holiness. He knows every aspect of your soul, every thought of your heart, every secret of your character, its difficulties and hindrances; He knows how to mold you to His will, and lead you onwards; He knows exactly how each event, each trial, each temptation, will tell upon you, and He disposes all things accordingly. The consequences of this belief, if fully grasped, will influence your whole life. You will seek to give yourself up to God more and more unreservedly, asking nothing, refusing nothing, wishing nothing, but what He wills; not seeking to bring things about for yourself, taking all He sends joyfully, and believing the "one step" set before you to be enough for you. You will be satisfied that even though there are clouds around, and your way seems dark, He is directing all, and that which seems a hindrance will prove a blessing , since He wills it."
-Jean Nicolas Grou
Another great book that I just got for Christmas is
The Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan prayers and
devotions. I read the following prayer at the Dave Nagel Christmas dinner. Afterwards, I said to Dave, "Say what you will about Reformed theology, but the part that I love about it is that it is all about Christ initiating and doing the work. If my salvation and relationship with God were left up to me, I would fail every time."
THE GIFT OF GIFTS
O SOURCE OF ALL GOOD,
What shall I render to thee for the gift of gifts,
thine own dear Son, begotten, not created,
my redeemer, proxy, surety, substitute,
his self-emptying incomprehensible,
his infinity of love beyond the heart's grasp.
Herein is wonder of wonders:
he came below to raise me above,
was born like me that I might become like him.
Herein is love;
when I cannot rise to him he draws near on wings of grace,
to raise me to himself.
Herein is power;
when Deity and humanity were infinitely apart
he united them in indissoluble unity, the uncreate and the created.
Herein is wisdom;
when I was undone, with now will to return to him,
and no intellect to devise recovery,
he came, God-incarnate, to save me to the uttermost,
as man to die my death,
to shed satisfying blood on my behalf,
to work out a perfect righteousness for me.
O God, take me in spirit to the watchful shepherds, and
enlarge my mind;
let me hear good tiding of great joy,
and hearing, believe, rejoice, praise, adore,
my conscience bathed in an ocean of repose,
my eyes uplifted to a reconciled Father;
place me with ox, ass, camel, goat,
to look with them upon my redeemer's face,
and in him account myself delivered from sin;
let me with Simeon clasp the new-born child to my heart,
embrace him with undying faith,
exulting that he is mine and I am his.
In him thou hast given me so much that heaven can give no more.
My prayer for each of you is that God might, through Christ, draw each of you unto himself in a greater and deeper way, maybe for the first time; and that we might all respond, through grace, with great joy, obedience and exaltation.
This is what is bringing Amanda some of her greatest joy these days. Amanda loves babies and is an amazing mother to them. She is also loving having another girl in the house.
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One of my favorite parts of each of the boys birthdays this year has been our breakfasts out together. When we are sitting at the Cobblestone Cafe over a coffee and hot chocolate I always say to myself, "Why don't I do this more often?" This was again my sentiment as I saw the smile on Caleb's face as he wolfed down his French toast, bacon and cocoa.
One of the other highlights of this weekend was Caleb joining us in "our class" at church. After 4-years-old, our church has kids sit in the service. It was one of the things that drew us to our church. It is a great (and at times difficult) thing. For instance, when we start to sing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and Ben looks down at me and smiles because he knows that one, it is very encouraging. We wouldn't get that type of thing if they were somewhere else. Caleb is still a little young to be there, but he will quickly catch on.
the Heights a devotional compiled by Al Bryant. It was my dad's book, given to him by his Aunt Hilma and Uncle Max. (Great names!) I took it mostly because of that, but it has proven to be a great way to start my mornings, filled with thoughts like this from this morning.
devotions. I read the following prayer at the Dave Nagel Christmas dinner. Afterwards, I said to Dave, "Say what you will about Reformed theology, but the part that I love about it is that it is all about Christ initiating and doing the work. If my salvation and relationship with God were left up to me, I would fail every time."
If you read often, you have read my laments about our old Sony camera. As far back as Halloween I reference my hope of getting a digital SLR (single lens reflex) camera. Amanda came through in a HUGE way this Christmas! She got me a Nikon D40x. It is a great camera! Already I have been able to take some really fun great pictures. I am so looking forward to exploring this unit. Thanks sweetheart!
Merry Christmas from the Gammons family. We have so enjoyed a few days of celebrating our Lord's birth. We hope that you have been surrounded by friends and family as we have. If not, I pray that you have been especially surrounded by Christ's love.
This is our little Honey Bunny! It has been an amazing five months. Molly has been a great addition to our family, one that we thank God for daily.
If you were thinking of a nice quiet place to finish up your Christmas shopping on one of the last Saturday's before Christmas, the Mall of America would not be somewhere that I would recommend. Nevertheless, Amanda, Molly and I ventured down to the MOA this weekend. We left Ben and Caleb with Dave and Joni and Matthew stayed with Grandma Shube. (Thanks!) It was actually not as crazy as I thought it might be. We did opt for the valet parking though. ($7 well spent.) When people are waiting for others to pull out of their spots, you know it is a busy day at the mall. I took Molly and walked around the whole first floor and then the whole third floor before we met Amanda for lunch. I had a Nathan's hot dog, mmmm! It was a pretty relaxing morning. Once we hooked back up with Amanda though things started to get stressful. Everywhere that we needed to go either didn't have what we wanted or the line was out the door. We were able to get almost completely done with shopping though. Gregg and Allison come this week and then Christmas will be in full swing. I am looking forward to having some time off of work and being with family.
If you like female artists like Patty Griffin, Karin Bergquist (Over the Rhine), Gillian Welch, and Emmylou Harris, but also like a little rock and roll turned up to "11", you'll love Neko Case. She is considered one of the best female alt-country performers around. She croons like Karin Berquist, but howls like Springsteen. I love her artistic expressions. Her songs are not just the typical love songs or topical songs. They are more works of art with great description.
One of the things that we have noticed lately about Caleb is that his little mind is always running. He makes connections with concepts so quickly and it is a lot of fun to watch this happen. Yesterday Amanda told me this story.
When we were in Alpena, somehow Amanda and my mom got on the topic of saving money. Mom, as she is oft to do, went to the World Wide Web. She found the book called America's Cheapest Family. I haven't read the book, but from the book report that I got here are some highlights.
