Lazy? Or Sick?

I cannot scold myself into not being weak.

But that doesn't stop me from trying.  Dumb me.

It's so hard to know when you're being lazy because your body is weak and ill and fighting germies ... and when you're Just Being Lazy.  You try to give yourself a kick in the heinie and make yourself tackle that list of projects.  But then you don't bother to get out of bed in the morning, lying there to amuse yourself reading a story till far too late.  Or you plunk on the couch and watch television.  "Do something productive," you yell at yourself.  But you keep being unproductive. 

So you nap.
And you cough. 
And you blow your nose.

The only reason I can even begin to convince myself that it's not complete laziness on my part?  Last Sunday afternoon's fever.  And the fact that Katie's family has all the same symptoms.  When a 5-yr-old doesn't want to listen to stories but begs to be put to bed early, you know something besides laziness is plaguing her. 

Saving Mr Banks

Savings Mr Banks was one we'd intended to see in [gasp!] the theatre.  Like other people.  But we never made it.  So we watched it on DVD recently.  Oh my goodness -- it was so good that we watched it a second time before taking it back to the library!

Basic plot: Author of the book Mary Poppins doesn't want to sell the rights to Disney, who wants to turn the book into a musical/movie.  

I don't know how much truth there is to the characters and to their histories and motivations.  But it makes a very good story regardless.  Thought-provoking to see the effect on children of an irresponsible daddy who nevertheless shows much affection to his children.  Fun and amusing to see bits and pieces of Mary Poppins lines come out of the mouths of certain characters in the movie. 

Rating: Not sure why it's a PG-13.  It's seems cleaner overall than quite a few PG's I've watched.  Granted it's not something I'd want under-13's to see ... but I'd say the same about most of the PG movies out there.  (And personally, the vast majority of the PG-13's available today should be rated R in my opinion.  But that's another topic....)

Point of both stories:  As a kid, I always thought Mary Poppins was about the nanny rescuing the kids.  It wasn't until I was grown up that I realized that wasn't the main point of the movie.  At all.  In last year's movie, at one point, the author tells the movie producer, "You think this is about saving the children?!"  And she walks away, shaking her head.  And that is what both Mary Poppins and Saving Mr Banks are about.

Today's Laugh

Another groaner from Tyler:

John really liked Emmaline.  He asked her to accompany him to the prom.  Emmaline accepted.  John was delighted.  He wanted to make it a wonderful evening of memories.  What special plans would enhance their evening?

John decided to rent a tuxedo.  He found a tux store.  When he arrived, he found that many of the other guys at school had had the same idea.  The line was long.  But he wanted to look snazzy for his date with Emmaline.  So he waited and waited.  Finally it was his turn.  He chose a style and was fitted for it and paid his down-payment. 

While John was waiting at the tux store, he'd heard some of the other guys talking about flowers.  Yes, he needed beautiful flowers for Emmaline.  He went to the florist.   He found a long line there too.  But he was patient; he waited until a florist could help him choose the corsage that would be just perfect for Emmaline's dress.

A few days later, John had the idea to go one step further in the classiness-department.  He would rent a limo for prom night.  He hunted up a place and headed over there to make arrangements.  This place too had a long line of fellows with the same idea.  So John waited until he could set up the use of the limo and finalize the contract.

Finally, prom night arrived.  John picked up Emmaline.  Her mom wanted to take so many pictures.  John, in his tux.  Emmaline, in her gown with the beautiful flowers.  The couple stepping into the limousine. 

After a luscious dinner, Emmaline and John walked into the dance.  They visited with friends.  They laughed.  They danced.  They had a good time.  They got thirsty.  Emmaline asked John to get her a cup of punch.  So John walked straight over to the refreshment table.  And there was no punch line.

False Accusations

The beatitudes end with "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake."

So what kinds of evil?  I suppose it might include things like, "Hey, the pastor embezzled thousands of dollars from the church" (which is entirely a lie) or "My neighbor is a Christian and he does _____" (which likewise is completely a fabrication).

But the evil they spoke against Jesus?  "He is overturning the Law."
The evil spoken against the apostles?  "Overturning the Law."

That's why Jesus was reviled and persecuted and killed.
That's why the apostles were too.

Thing is, that evil accusation ("overturning the law") is NOT TRUE.  Those who idolize the Law think the accusation is true.  But it's not.  Jesus fulfilled the Law; He did not do away with it.

Recent Days

Holy Week: church, job, sleep, and working on the bridesmaid dress.  That was about it.

After making adjustments to the pattern and cutting out the pieces for a trial dress, I found my pattern was way off.  So I remade the bodice pattern and, luckily, had enough spare fabric to remake the main pieces of the bodice.  That didn't work either; the dress fits me pretty decently, which means it is five sizes off.   In frustration, I set it aside for a few days.

And then I coughed.  A lot.  And missed out on enjoying the pleasure of the kids' visits.  But hey, I could nevertheless sing for Good Friday and Easter, even with some coughs. Gary and Katie prepared and cleaned up Easter dinner.  I was so thankful!  During the afternoon I developed a fever and had to sleep away much of the day. 

Today was trial-bodice #3 for for the bridesmaid dress.  Much closer to actually fitting Maggie!  Pattern #4 was created this evening.  I hope to piece another test-bodice together tomorrow.  If there's success (??) I can hit up the fabric store to make a complete trial-dress that will be wearable instead of just something to test the size.

You know what?  Sewing is a breeze when all you have to do is follow the pattern and make a few adjustments for length or something simple.

Today's Laugh

Another bad pun from my co-worker --

but read it out loud because I'm not sure

this is a joke that can be communicated in writing:

The bear walked into the bar.

The bartender asked, "What can I get for you, sir?"

The bear grumbled, "A rum and ...

...

...

...




...

...


... coke."


The bartender was puzzled.  "What's with the big pause?"

Be Perfect

"Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5). 

Yikey-schnikey!  If you're like me, you can't help but hear that as a word of condemnation, as a command which you can never obey.

Pastor made a comparison recently.
Think of all the stories in the Gospels.  Jesus laid hands on a leper and said, "Be healed."  And the sick person is healed.

Jesus laid hands on a blind man and said, "Receive your sight."  And the man could see.

Jesus laid hands on a deaf person and said, "Be healed."  And the person was healed and could hear. 

In any of those cases, do we congratulate the person for healing himself?  Duh .....  NO.  The glory goes to the Lord Jesus who healed those who could not heal themselves.



So why this weird switcheroo when it comes to His performative word: "Be perfect"?
HE declares it.
HE makes it so.
Is that the command we sinners perceive it to be?
Or is it a blessing and a gift?

Today's Laugh

My co-worker Tyler was telling some jokes today at lunch.  At their Easter dinner, his family got going on a run of Bad Joke Telling.  Here's one:

Why can't you tell puns
to kleptomaniacs?

Because they take 

everything literally.

A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss

But a rotating fan gathers LOST of dust!

I learned something about dust one day in confirmation class.  (That was not the pastor's plan that day, I'm sure.)   After our section on the commandments, all of us 8th-graders were taking a quiz.  "True or false? Betsy shows respect for God's Word by dusting her Bible every week."  Everybody in class (except one girl) answered "true."  Pastor said the answer was "false."   The class protested.  Turns out that our misunderstanding had more to do with cleaning than with valuing God's word.    Pastor (and the one girl who got the right answer) insisted that a Bible that is used won't get dusty.  Pastor said that it shows more love for God's word to be reading it than to leave it sit unused to get dusty. 

Things get dusty when they're not used?  Who knew?

Anyway ...
According to that logic, a fan should grow dustier when sitting still than when being used.  Guess what?  When I began to keep house, I learned that's not the way it works.  The other day, I found lights and fan on in an empty room.  Buttinsky me turned off the light and the fan.  And this picture shows what I found.  Yuck!  I wonder how long it's been since that fan was off? 

Holy Week Liturgy

Extra services.
Pastors have many sermons to prepare.

Some pastors have services to write too.  In congregations that don't use the liturgy, each week's service has to be invented afresh.  During Holy Week, that would be a lot of [unnecessary] work.

Some of us laymen yearn for Holy Week to come so that we can hear the same thing we heard last year.  And the year before.  And the year before.  The same liturgy.  The same hymns.  The same readings.  If you're reading the book, the same rites and pericopes don't get stale, even if they've been used for hundreds of years ... because those words are the life of the world.

Undoing the Curse of the Fall

In a few years, Joey will grow to be 16.  Imagine his dad gives him the car keys.  Joey takes the car and drives stupidly and wraps the car around the tree.  Joey comes through the accident.  Even though his father forgives him, the damage is still done.  The car is ruined.  Joey did that to his dad's car because he had the "authority" over the car; he was the one with the keys; he was the one operating it. 

That story was used to illustrate how Adam had authority over God's creation.  It was God's world.  But he "gave Adam the car keys."  And Adam wrecked it.  His fall into sin brought ruin to the world. 

Therefore ...

when the Second Adam forgives sin,

the results of sin begin to be undone.  Right away!

When Jesus dies, there is an immediate response (Mt 27)!  The earth trembles as the whole creation groans to be redeemed from its bondage (Rom 8).  The veil is torn and we have access to God (Eph 3, Heb 10).  Some of the dead are resurrected.

The one who first had authority and dominion over creation?  He wrecked it.
The One whose blood and death gave Him the authority?  He unwrecked it.  He set it right.

Behold, He makes all things new!

Confessing or Denying

If anyone confesses Me before men, him also I will confess before My Father who is in heaven.
But if anyone denies Me before men, him also I will deny before My Father who is in heaven.  (Matthew 10)

But ...
but ...
but we do deny Him.

If we don't curse and swear that we don't know Him (as did Peter), we still deny Him every single time we sin or doubt or be selfish.  And then that verse can be scary.

Pastor invited us to cling to the first half of the verse.  It is a promise of God.  It is true!  He will confess us before the Father! 

We are sinners.  We do deny Him.  That's abominable.  But in the face of our sin, we continue to live by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. 

Peter denied Jesus.  Peter also confessed Jesus. (It's that whole "simultaneously saint and sinner" thing.)  Peter is in heaven. 

God's mercy and love and forgiveness is even bigger than our sin.  That's some pretty big mercy!

The Veil of the Temple

According to Exodus 26, the veil of the tabernacle was made of linen.  It was woven with the colors of blood.

On Good Friday, the veil is torn.

Christ's flesh is torn.
He is bloody.
And His body is wrapped in linen to be laid in the tomb.

"You See to It"

It felt like a bit of deja vu this morning.  I'd just heard Judas tell the high priest that he had sinned in betraying innocent blood.  The response was essentially "tough noogies."  Actually it was, "What is that to us?  You see to it."  A little bit later, Pilate feels forced into handing Jesus over to death.  He says, "I am innocent of the blood of this just person's death.  You see to it."

Both are saying, "Not my problem.  I don't want to get involved in solving this.  I'm outta here.  You do whatever you want about this mess."



Two interesting points that Pastor brought up:
~~ Pilate was indeed innocent of the blood of Jesus.  NOT because he claimed to be so.  NOT because he absolved himself.  But because Jesus' blood atoned for the sins of the whole world.  Of course, Pilate rejected that forgiveness.  But it was won for him nonetheless.
~~ It was the job of the high priest to forgive sin and to pray and to offer sacrifices.  Judas sinned.  He came to the priests with an admission of guilt.  And their response?  "You see to it."  That's damnable doctrine.  We cannot "see to" the fixing of our mess.  Judas's despair is partially due to the refusal of the priests to forgive his sin, to point him to the God of mercy and love.  

Aprons

Maggie and I have been sewing this week.  We started this project last spring when we found the oh-so-exciting fabric for half-price.  Julie (Olivia's mom) had worked on some simple sewing skills with the girls nearly six years ago, putting together a baby blanket for Alia.  This week Maggie progressed to facings, ties/straps, patch pockets, and [gasp] curved seams. She also learned that her mother is a freak about ironing while sewing!  Everything must be ironed, ironed again, and then ironed a little more for good measure.

For the record, "See and Sew" patterns ["EASY to make!"] are not that simple.  And the directions cannot be followed by somebody unless she has some pretty good sewing experience already under her belt.  Boy, howdy, I thought an apron pattern would be a good start on sewing.  Not this pattern, though! 

We now have enough aprons to go around.

And we have aprons that will make us smile.

And I have the knowledge to use my old apron pattern (the one I used in 8th-grade sewing class for my first garment-production) next time I get the itch for apron-sewing.

(I think the flounce on the bottom of the apron makes me look fat.  Or pregnant.  But "Does this make me look fat?" is a naughty naughty question.  So I will not ask it.)

Matthias's Baptism

Okay, so it's a six-week-old picture 

that I should've posted a long time 

ago.  I'm behind...

Let This Cup Pass From Me

"You know, Dad, I really don't want to do this whole suffering thing.  Don't you suppose I could get out of it?  It'll hurt.  I'll die.  I don't want to.  But if You really really really want Me to do it, okay.  Fine.  I guess I will.  If I have to."

Is that what we think Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane was?  If it were me (that is, me at my absolute best) then maybe that's what I'd mean by "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.  Nevertheless, not what I will, but as You will" (Matthew 26).

But Jesus wanted to die for us.  His love compelled Him.  He did not go to His suffering unwillingly.  "A Lamb goes uncomplaining forth, the guilt of all men bearing." 

What He didn't want was to be separated from His Father.  He is the true Man, the man Adam failed to be.  Man's life is from God, and the worst thing that happens to man is to be separated from Him.  Adam, who was in communion with God, willingly chose to turn away from Him.  Jesus, who (more than anyone) had the right to be one with the Father, willed to not be separated from Him.  But His will and the Father's will were one, and Jesus willed to saved.

So when we hear next week, "Ohhh ... I don't really want to do this," we need to remember.  It's not "I don't want to suffer."  It's not that our Savior is suddenly having a fit of me-first that He's struggling to overcome.  It's "I don't want to be separated from You."

RUINING Children's Lives

Are you a parent?  You are ruining your child's life.  Yes.  Yes, you are.  Go check out Beth Woolsey's blog to see how terrible you are.

For one example, read what awful thing Jamie reported about her dictatorial mothering:

My child will be calling Child Protective Services and suing for $20,000 cash because I threw out a gnarly toothbrush and replaced it with a fresh, new one, which is clearly child abuse.

How about Michelle's cruelty?

I don't let my 1-year-old lick the bottom of people's shoes.

Oh!  Alas for those poor children who endure such suffering!

Bowed Down

My posture has gone downhill significantly in the last couple of months.  I keep noticing how slumpy I am while driving, how my shoulders droop when standing.  I keep telling myself to straighten up, and my faked-out good posture lasts for a whoppin' five minutes.  Or less.

This week I noticed in the psalms where it says "I bowed down heavily, as one who mourns" or "my soul is bowed down to the dust" or "the Lord raises up those who are bowed down." 

Huh.  So it's not just a figure of speech.
The body really does end up "bowed down" when the heart grieves.

Soft Foods

ice cream and sherbet
pudding and yogurt
mashed potatoes
fruit smoothies
scrambled or over-easy eggs

tomato soup
chicken-noodle soup
beef-noodle soup

pancakes
Dutch oven-pancakes
macaroni and cheese
tilapia in coconut-milk sauce

winter squash
pumpkin pie
applesauce
canned peaches
creamed spinach
banana
baked sweet potato
scalloped creamed-corn

soft bread (no millet or bulghar)
quiche
lentil soup
baked beans
chicken and dumplings
egg roll guts
burrito
fajita
cole slaw
tuna salad
bubble-n-squeak
muffins

spaghetti
stroganoff
meatloaf
pizza lentils
lasagna
chili
gumbo
crab with rotini
chicken pot pie
shepherd's pie
zucchini skillet
pulled beef in a barbecue sauce
hamburger-corn-noodle casserole
African peanut soup
teriyaki chicken and rice
red beans and rice
Mom's fried chicken