Status Report: April

Sitting…on a couch in the living.

Drinking…a can of green tea ginger ale.

Watching…the sun set.

Thinking…that I should be working on a more substantial post I’ve started, but I’m tired, tired, tired, triply emphasised. What is it about the longer evening light that makes me antsy and exhausted at the same time?

Liking…afternoon walks in the spring sunshine. Liking that it’s time to come out of winter hibernation. Liking that I can watch the Twins again, but wishing they’d have won a couple more games.

Also liking…the pale clover colour I painted the coffee table.

Listening…to my son cleaning his room. Last time he cleaned his room he found a roll of year-old Christmas wrapping paper. This time he keeps finding his sister’s t-shirts. I’m thinking it’s not her fault they’re in his room.

Experiencing…spring fever. It’s an excellent treatment for cabin fever.

Reading…two books that are too similar and finding it hard to finish either of them, even though I like them both.

Wondering…why God works the way he does. Wondering why he brings some of his children through so much suffering. In a lecture I listened to this afternoon, J. I Packer said that he thought God brought difficult things into our lives to prepare us to enjoy heaven, and that those who suffer more will enjoy heaven more. What do you think?

Pondering…the phrase “glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” If you stick around for a couple days, you might find out why.

A Catechism for Girls and Boys

Part I: Questions about God, Man, and Sin

28. Q. What effect did the sin of Adam have on all mankind?
      A. All mankind is born in a state of sin and misery.

(Click through to read scriptural proofs.)

Click to read more ...

Sunday's Hymns

Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted

Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
See Him dying on the tree!
’Tis the Christ by man rejected;
Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He!
’Tis the long expected prophet,
David’s Son, yet David’s Lord;
Proofs I see sufficient of it:
’Tis a true and faithful Word.

Tell me, ye who hear Him groaning,
Was there ever grief like His?
Friends through fear His cause disowning,
Foes insulting his distress:
Many hands were raised to wound Him,
None would interpose to save;
But the deepest stroke that pierced Him
Was the stroke that Justice gave.

Ye who think of sin but lightly,
Nor suppose the evil great,
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the sacrifice appointed!
See who bears the awful load!
’Tis the Word, the Lord’s anointed,
Son of Man, and Son of God.

Here we have a firm foundation,
Here the refuge of the lost.
Christ the rock of our salvation,
Christ the name of which we boast.
Lamb of God for sinners wounded!
Sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded
Who on Him their hope have built.

 —Thomas Kelly

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

• Update: How Firm a Foundation at Jam and Books
• O Word of God Incarnate at Hiraeth
• My Redeemer at threegirldad
• Not to Sinai’s Dreadful Blaze at Tried With Fire
• Whate’re My God Ordains Is Right at Rosemary at Home
• Who Is On the Lord’s Side? at The Happy Wonderer
• My Soul In Silence Waits for God at Field Stone Cottage
• Eternal Light! at Whatever Things
• Lord’s Day 14, 2010 at The Thirsty Theologian
• A Prayer for Sunday Morning at The Key to the Door
• Voices of the Past - April 3, 2011 at The Upward Call
• Come and Eat at Daily on My Way to Heaven
• Sabbath Keeping at Thistle Cove Farm

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.