• Had dinner with Robert and Kim on Friday.
• Met Julie Austin and Billy Joe Jim Bob Freddie George Bubba Howard and their respective spouses (and Julie's kiddos) Friday evening.
• Had lunch with Amy and Chris and Meg (link?) and their respective spouses and offspring on Saturday
• Had dinner with my would-have-been landlords on Saturday.
• Had breakfast with Amy and fam on Sunday (actually, I'd already eaten but sat with them after they came down to eat)
• Drove Doug Phillips and his assistant and daughter to worship. I didn't know for sure I'd be doing this 'til 6 a.m., so I'd done some early-morning scurrying to empty my car of clutter and trash, run to the gas station to vacuum, and give it a once-over with Windex. I knew it wasn't up to Vision Forum's we-look-like-we-never-get-dirt-under-our-fingernails-even-when-we're-digging-for-dinosaurs standards. And then there's that dreadful rattle it's developed (I'm thinking tie rod ends), for which I kept apologizing. And of course Doug was very gracious about it, saying, "We call that character." And I dropped a name during the brief journey. And I took the wrong exit, necessitating more turns, producing more hideous rattles, but we made it in one piece and on time.
• Sat with the Saenzes during worship
• Easily spotted Kelly M's brother after the service (he was bewildered at how I might know him...his wife remembered Kelly mentioning me)
• Attended the St. Peter third Sunday picnic. Surprised myself by being quite the social butterfly. Spoke with some St. Peter friends and quite a few visitors, including one young lady who asked, "Are you the Valerie from the squib?" Yep. Doug's assistant told me Doug was looking for me. Uh-oh...he's going to sue me endangering his daughter's life in my rattletrap of a car! No. He'd found out from RC that I was single, and wanted to pray for me. So he dragged RC over and they both prayed for me, and I was embarrassed, but, of course, deeply appreciative. RC said he's been praying not just that God will send me a husband, but that He'll send me a husband who will move me to St. Peter. (Uh-oh. If certain other people are praying otherwise, I hope the Lord doesn't split the difference and send me to D.C.!) Was one of the last to leave the picnic, and was therefore available to be invited, along with another visiting family, to the Cs' home for more munching and fellowship. We were later joined by the Rs, who brought along another family of visitors. A bonfire and good conversation and singing ensued.
• Spent most of Monday being perfectly lazy, then went to the Sprouls' for dinner. Here's a view from their front porch, courtesy of Doug's blog. And that doesn't even begin to capture it. RC had to go and ask if I'd been online via the hotel's business center. Hadn't occurred to me 'til then!

• We are the Lord's gold. He refines us because we are precious to him.
• Job 36:15 (ESV): "He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity." (Pesky pronouns. None of the others has those bys. I hate it when translations are so radically different and it's impossible to discern what's the right one, but I think this is true even if it's not what's intended by the verse.)
• Fear of God = faith = believing God
• We don't deserve sanctification. It's a gift of grace. And God decides, not us, how quickly and in what ways we will mature.
• Growing in grace is growing in the ability to see Jesus.
• RC talked about praying, "Lord, whatever it takes," regarding his and his family's sanctification, and enumerated some of the trials that have since come Sproulward. I realized that though I've prayed similarly for at least 15 years, it's usually been, "Lord, whatever it takes. Oh, and here's a list of what it'll take." Now it's not wrong to pray specifically, but it is wrong to presumptuously assume I know better than God how to do His job, and it is wrong to rail against Him when He does things His way and not mine. I realized that I've spent a whole lot of time rebelling against His chosen means and often flat out refusing to obey in this area or that because He hasn't met my list of demands.

• The Father loves us just as much as He loves the Son. When David opened the door to let Bathsheba in, when he gave the order to have Uriah killed, God loved him as much then as He loves His Son. I think I especially needed to hear this to keep from being overwhelmed by guilt regarding my previously mentioned newly unburied rebelliousness.
• A husband and father who does not love his wife and children as Christ loves the Church is telling lies about Him. Considering that I was lied to consistently and egregiously in this way, it is a marvel to me that I know any truth at all about the Lord.* God can manage, without even the means He usually ordains, to make me see even a little of who He is, and I'm trying to give Him orders about how to accomplish my sanctification? Puh. Leeze!

• "I can't prepare a meal ahead of time not knowing whether or not or how many might be coming to lunch!" We're confusing hospitality and entertainment. The point is not to produce an impressive meal. Having sandwich supplies on hand that you could serve to guests on Sunday or use for your own family's lunches through the week wouldn't be that hard.
• "I can't afford it." Oh, please. What a lame excuse in this nation. Why is it that we so often hear visitors to poor countries remark on the hospitality they experienced there -- people sharing out of what little they have? Remember the story about the baboons?
• "I would have people over, but the kids would annoy them." Someone actually said this to me once. First of all, you are betraying your own belief that children are a burden an a nuisance, and your assumption that others think likewise. Second, you are depriving your potential guests (the comment was made in the context of a discussion about showing hospitality to single folks in the church) of something they really can't provide for themselves -- the learning experience of observing a godly family in action and the blessing of being able to participate in family activities.
• "The house is a mess." Here's my Grade A, Number One excuse. And if we turn it on its head we see why poor housekeeping isn't just a personality quirk, it's a sin. It gets in the way of obeying God's command to be hospitable.
• "We're too busy." Well, stop being so busy. Like unto the previous point, if something you are doing is keeping you from obeying God, then it is sin.

We're not to be squeezed into the world's mold. This age has a pattern of thinking and living, and desires us to conform to it. Look back to Romans 1:20ff to see what the world's pattern is like -- substituting foolishness for grateful submission to God; giving themselves to stupidity; exchanging truth for lies. Christians tend to be oblivious to the fact that the cultural influences of our day want this for us.

God says we should instead be shaped by who we are and what He's making us -- be metamorphosed into a different appearance by the renewal of our minds. Why do our minds need renewal? It's not just a lack of information. Teaching the natural man just makes him a more effective, efficient, creative, convincing sinner. The Bible says we need change, not information. Ephesians 4:22 says, "Be renewed in the spirit of your mind." This refers to a change of mindset, outlook, demeanor, viewpoint. Titus 3:5 says that we are saved through washing and renewing (the only other place in the NT where that word is used) by the Spirit. God is beautifying His new creation. The Spirit makes us into what we already are -- holy and righteous. 2 Corinthians 3:18 -- Beholding is becoming. We are transformed by gazing at the glorified Christ. We are awed by the beauty of our Bridegroom and we long for Him. That's what gives us perseverance. Do that, and you will know what else to do.

Dear Valerie, I have been reading your blog for about a year now and enjoy it very much. Of course, you do not know me, I don't have a blog to refer you to, so you will have to take what I say with a grain of salt. Which is probably wise anyway since I am not immediately involved in the situation in Lagrange. I do live here, however, and know someone who knows the family. And so I feel a bit like I'm playing the game telephone (where you whisper a message to someone and by the end of the line it's totally garbled.) However it appears to me that the story is not as simple as it seems.

According to one family member, there never was a feeding tube. The grandmother was on an IV but it was making her swell and they removed it and tried to feed her by mouth. However, she refuses most everything and spits it out. The family also says she is suffering from dementia which I don't believe the article mentioned. They moved her to hospice because she has an inoperable aortic aneurysm that will probably kill her (and surgery most definitely would).

From my perspective, the granddaughter has been taking care of her grandmother for some time. The nephew comes into town and turns it into a big media story. Now it could be that he is right and the granddaughter is wrong. But I don't think the whole story has been told. And according to our local paper (Lagrange Daily News), the family (including the nephew) has agreed to abide by the decision of 2 out of 3 doctors evaluating the case.

Since all of my info is hearsay, it is probably not very helpful. And I am not blaming you in any way from putting this story on your blog. I just think it may not be as it appears right now in the media. Could be wrong though.

• New Favorite, by Allison Krauss and Union Station -- This is the most popular of the three, but I like the other two better. If you're an AK&US fan, don't think of that as a slight to them, but as a compliment to the following.
• Warm Strangers, by Vienna Teng -- I think I first heard the song "Harbor" on a Paste Music sampler. Then I was reminded of it when Jon noted Teng as one of his musical influences. Miss Teng's vocals and piano playing are beautiful -- bright and true. "Harbor" is probably my favorite on the CD, but I also like "Feather Moon" despite the sketchy poetry of its lyrics and the a capella "Passages" even though it is almost unbearably sad, and even though I think I got this accursed spyware while searching for the lyrics, which for some reason are not printed in the liner notes with the rest of the songs.
• Turn to Me by Bill (short for Belinda) Jones -- This one's my favorite of the three. I discovered it through RadioCelt.com. Traditional Celtic is the musical language that most resonnates with me, and this young lady performs it with the sort of voice I find most delightful -- pure and clear and light and genuine. She combines some venerable tunes and lyrics with more modern ones including her own. My favorite cuts are "Táimse im Chodladh" and "Turn to Me," both of which combine Miss Jones's lyrics with older tunes.
  
  "The Fisherboy" (track three) is a ballad about a poor little lad who tragically loses both his parents, and is then kindly taken in by a young woman and her nobleman father, who not only foster the boy, but employ him, for which he is most grateful. Can't you just hear the shrieks of child protective services people now? "Exploitation! Child Labor!"
  
  This sort of situation arises often among refugees -- a child separated from his parents will often be taken in by another family as a servant -- and is always decried as a tragedy. But of course the natural children of the family are probably expected to work just as hard as the fostered children. Of course there are situations where abuse occurs, but they are held up as the norm. To the concerned voices, anything short of a typical middle-class American child's lazy life is tantamount to heinous torture.