Prayer

We're studying prayer on Wednesday night at church with the 2nd graders.  I'd love to be able to show them this video.  If this dog was for sale, I'd be buying.

A Beautiful Day

Back in May when tickets went on sale for games at the Twins new ballpark, I knew I wanted to take the boys for their birthdays in September.  It's a good thing I was thinking ahead.  Tickets for the whole season have been sold out for a long time.

We had a wonderful day yesterday.  It started with Matthew's birthday breakfast at Cobblestone Cafe.  He is such a sweet person to be with one-on-one.  Then later in the morning, we headed downtown, parked for free about 8 blocks from the stadium and got there early enough to find our seats and talk with the usher.  (What a job!  He looked about 65 or 70.  He works at 60 of the 81 home games.)  Our seats were great, first row of the upper deck.  They also came with a hot dog and pop.  Not bad for $22 a piece.  It was a pretty slow game until the Twins went on a tear in the 6th and 7th inning and scored 5 runs.  Twins won 5-1.  The stadium was really nice and it was great to be outside, although a little cool yesterday.  All in all, a wonderful time was had by all of the Gammons boys.

Fall Update

It seems as if my writing here has waned in the last season. This is a positive space for me. I have worked to keep it only that. The positive have been the routine, i.e. HOTW, Read Alouds, camping, and some of my philosophical rants.  With the return to Fall, comes a return to greater routine.  I welcome it.  Here is a beginning of Fall update.

• I recently turned 34-years-old.  I always remember growing up and thinking about how old I would be when it was the year 2000.  Twenty-four always seemed so old.  I don't feel old+ten years.
• I ate breakfast with Benjamin this morning for his birthday.  He is turning 8-years-old.  We have been eating breakfast together on his birthday for four years.  I distinctly remember being 8-years-old.  Mrs. Rhabi's class, birthday spankings, writing stories on the paper where you could draw a picture on the top half.  Ben will remember these days.
• Amanda began her third year as the official teacher of our two home educated kids.  She has a first and a third grader.  Transition was a bit of a challenge, but they seem to be off and running.  We went for a date the other night and spent some wonderful, much over due time together.
• Lucy is sitting up by herself and we are trying to train her to crawl.  She is the most independent of all of our kids.  She is a smiley and sweet little thing.  She was up from 2AM-9AM a week ago.  She is getting all four of her top teeth.  She had a couple days of not feeling well and not being very sweet.  Thankfully, she's over that now.
• Matthew is having to come inside.  He lives and loves being outside.  I think the winter will be difficult for him.  He will turn 5-years-old next week.  He loves his brothers, but he and Molly are best friends.  He is growing and beginning to look a bit like a clown on his little bike.  Maybe this Christmas will bring a big kid's bike.
• Caleb is lamenting having to review the things he learned in math last year.  He was so looking forward to charging ahead in that  area.  Unfortunately, they are reviewing counting to 10.  He only rolls his eyes.  He will get to the meat of mathematics soon enough.  He got Uncle Joe's half-sized violin in the mail from Gigi yesterday.  When we got it out of the box and he was able to hold it this morning he was all smiles.  Lessons from Mom will begin soon.
• Molly, almost 3 and a half-years-old, is still a joy to have around.  Like her dad she is at times governed by her belly: grouchy when hungry, emotional when tired.  She loves sitting and reading books or asking anyone available to read them to her.  Pink is still her favorite color, but has begun to be okay with purple, white and some other colors in her pallet.  She is a tough girl, not to be outdone by her brothers or to be left behind.  A skinned knee or even the most recent road rash on her face from a fall of the quad, only mean a brief cry before she's back at it.
• I am teaching second grade on Wednesday night at church again this year.  Amanda is venturing into 4th grade Sunday School team leading.  She will do the logistical work behind the scenes and I'll do the Sunday morning stuff.
• Having finished the epistle of Philippians, we are reading Galatians and celebrating God's completely undeserved favor on us in salvation.  We are working to put effort (unmeritorious effort for sure) into keeping ourselves in the love of God.

We hope this Fall finds you celebrating Christ's grace to you.  Thanks for reading.

Hymn of the Week--Wonderful Grace of Jesus

We're reading through Paul's epistle to the Galatians now after dinner.  Paul's pretty upset with the church there.  They want to add things like circumcision to the gospel.  I went to the hymnal looking for a good one about what the gospel is really all about.  I think this one get's it pretty right on.  Who doesn't love to sing that chorus too?  The Cathedrals do a great job of this one in the video below.

Hymn of the Week
Wonderful Grace of Jesus
Words and Music by Haldor Lillenas

Wonderful grace of Jesus,
Greater than all my sin;
How shall my tongue describe it,
Where shall its praise begin?
Taking away my burden,
Setting my spirit free;
For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.

Refrain

Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus,
Deeper than the mighty rolling sea;
Wonderful grace, all sufficient for me, for even me.
Broader than the scope of my transgressions,
Greater far than all my sin and shame,
O magnify the precious Name of Jesus.
Praise His Name!

Moralism

My mom had a question about "moralism".  This was my response. 

Moralism is making actions the most important thing.  God doesn’t love us or not love us because of our actions.  Sin is a battle that is fought because of our love for God and because we want to become more like him.  It has no affect on our relationship with or to God.  We ARE righteous.  We ARE saints.  Not because of anything that we have or have not done, but because of what Christ did on our behalf on the cross.  Moralism put s all of the focus on us and our actions. 

In this situation moralism leads to legalism.  For instance, when sin is the most important thing in the life of a body, then lots of rules are put in place to avoid sin or the appearance of sin at all costs.  These rules become what makes one a Christian.  A Christian is a person who goes to church, reads their Bible and prays, stays married, votes Republican.  A Christian is person who doesn’t drink, doesn’t cheat on their spouse, doesn’t wrestle with doubt.

When I read the Bible, a Christian is someone who believes the gospel (1 Cor. 15) and that is effective for him, loves God and wrestles with sin on a daily basis.  A Christian is a person who struggles with murder, drunkenness, adultery, gossip, and all other manor of sin.  Someone who is given over to these (Rom 1:18-32) is not a Christian.  But I don’t think that is most of the people that Bob referenced in the article, nor is it a judgment that I would like to make as to when someone has been given over to their sin by God.

Just some thoughts.

Why We All Fall

I read this article from MinnPost the other day.  It is from a blogger that used to go to our church, Bob Hayton.  He focuses on why prominent preachers fall, but I think it is true of the sin in all of our lives.  I think he makes a great argument for grace.  This is the kind of thing I have often been frustrated by in my own life and in the lives of many of the Christian communities of which I've been a part.  It's a good ten minute read.