Status Report: May

Sitting…on the couch in the living room.

Drinking…a cup of Earl Grey tea.

Enjoying…the evening sunlight streaming in the windows. We’re at the long daylight hours time of the year again and I’m really, really ready for it. It’s amazing how much more I can get done with all that daylight. Daylight, in case you didn’t know, is energizing.

Watching…the Canadian election results. It will be a Conservative majority government, which is what I expected. The real news is how badly the Liberal Party did. They won’t be the official opposition party anymore, but rather, it’s the NDP (Canada’s social democratic party) that will fill that role. I’m okay with these result, and it’s making for an interesting election night.

Thinking…that the time has come for me to tackle my least favorite job: Scooping all the backyard dog doo that was hidden under snow over the winter. 

Wondering…what’s happened to my beloved Twins. Why can’t they ever put together a win? 

Thanking…God for my youngest daughter, who had a birthday yesterday. We will have a barbecue to celebrate sometime this week (I hope). But first I need to finish the job I mentioned above. 

Hoping…youngest son is not too sore tomorrow. He took a nasty spill bike-joring his dog and the neighbor’s dog today. He’s dogsitting the dog from next-door while the owners are gone for a few days and he’s discovered how fun it is to have the pair pull him on the bike. However, I’m not sure he’s as enthusiastic after his fall as he was before it.

Anticipating…summer and my garden. Anticipating taking a road trip, maybe. Anticipating a Twins win, someday.

Praying…for the people of Alabama. You can read a bit of news in Leslie’s status report. She writes:

Did you know that there are still 340 people missing? Did you realize that there are children, little ones who cannot even give their names, whose parents are nowhere to be found?

No, I didn’t know that. Thinking about those little ones breaks my heart. I’m praying with Leslie that relatives who will love them will find them.

As in every status report, I’m copying Lisa. 

Sunday's Hymn

Look, Ye Saints! the Sight Is Glorious

Look, ye saints! the sight is glorious,
see the Man of Sorrows now,
from the fight returned victorious,
ev’ry knee to him shall bow.
Crown him! Crown him! Crown him! Crown him!
Crowns become the Victor’s brow.

Crown the Savior, angels, crown him,
rich the triumphs Jesus brings;
in the seat of pow’r enthrone him
while the vault of heaven rings:
Crown him! Crown him! Crown him! Crown him!
Crown the Savior King of kings.

Sinners in derision crowned him,
mocking thus the Savior’s claim;
saints and angels throng around him,
own his title, praise his name.
Crown him! Crown him! Crown him! Crown him!
Spread abroad the Victor’s fame.

Hark, those bursts of acclamation,
hark, those loud triumphant chords,
Jesus takes the highest station,
oh, what joy the sight affords.
Crown him! Crown him! Crown him! Crown him!
King of kings, and Lord of lords!

—Thomas Kelly

Other hymns, worship songs, sermons etc. posted today:

• I’d Rather Have Jesus at Theology for Girls
• Round the Lord in Glory Seated at Hiraeth
• Let Everlasting Glories Crown at Tried With Fire
• Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah at Rosemary at Home
• O God of Light at The Happy Wonderer
• Who Is This That Comes From Edom at Field Stone Cottage
• Rejoice, the Lord Is King at Whatever Things
• O Sons and Daughters, Let Us Sing at Conjubilant with Song
• Lord’s Day 18, 2010 at The Thirsty Theologian
• Doxology at Daily on My Way to Heaven
• Sabbath Keeping at Thistle Grove Farms
• Voice From the Past - May 1, 2011 at The Upward Call
• Update: “Life is Like a Painted Dream” at threegirldad

Have you posted a hymn (or sermon, sermon notes, prayer, etc.) today and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by contacting me using the contact form linked above, and I’ll add your post to the list.

Because We Are His

From Living by God’s Promises by Joel R. Beeke and James A. La Belle:

The Lord … promises to use our afflictions for our eternal good. This is because we undergo trials not as enemies of God, but as children of God through our saving relationship with Christ. To those without Christ, trials are but foretastes of the coming judgment, but to we who are in Christ, trials are mediated by God’s eternal grace and love. The Lord has promised our correction and spiritual benefit through our afflictions. Keeping this in mind will help us face our troubles with the view of how we can profit from them rather than how long we have to suffer.

Because we, like sheep, tend to stray from the path of following God, one of the primary purposes of affliction is to restore us to the path or hedge in the path so that we do not leave it. Hebrews 12:6 says, “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” That by itself is a comfort because, as the passage goes on to say, “But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.” (v. 8) … So we have comfort in affliction that our Father is reproving us because He loves us and is correcting us because we are His. Even more, His correction is done in great wisdom and with much tenderness.