An artist is born!

A monumental event occured in our household today. Millie Anne picked up her crayons and drew a picture, rather than trying to eat them as she has every other time I have given her crayons. Perhaps it was the fact that she had a blank sheet of paper in front of her rather than a coloring book or restaurant menu, but I'm more inclined to think she's reached a level of developmental maturity that seeks to communicate with crayons rather than seeing them as food. I'm definitely biased, but I think Millie Anne's first picture (the first one with no assistance from me anyway) is beautiful! I love how she picked up each crayon with a big grin on her face and a light in her eyes, lifted it over her head, and then proceeded to draw with it. I was naming the colour of each crayon as she picked it up, and she seemed about to repeat what I said a few times. She can say red, and today she said yellow for the first time (actually it sounds like "Yewow", but it counts). She definitely gravitates towards the red and purple crayons the most. Hurray for bright and cheerful colours!!

Worship

This past Saturday Royce and I met with our pastor and finished our new member's class. I was very blessed by the lesson on a Biblical theology of worship. It really made me think about how I approach worship in the congregational setting especially. Here's what our pastors wrote:
"Over the last couple of decades, evangelicalism has been engaged in what has been coined as “worship wars.” At the heart of this battle lie such questions as, “What is the right way to worship?” “What kind of instruments should be used during worship?” “What kind of worship style is biblical?” “Should we use a screen or hymnbooks?” These and many other such questions of style and taste have caused much division in the body of Christ and confusion about how the church should worship. But, there is a root problem with these “wars” that must be acknowledged before it can be avoided. The problem is we have forgotten the essence of worship and focused on the form. We give higher priority to a philosophy of music than a theology of worship, instead of letting the latter dictate the former. We are more concerned with how we worship than why we worship, or even who we worship! Thus, the focus of this lesson is to lead us to answer the question, “what is the essence of biblical worship?”

I. Our Definition of Biblical Worship.

The essence of biblical worship is an intense inner, Godward experience of the heart that leads the believer to outwardly and consciously reflect the worth or value of God in word and deed, both individually and corporately.

II. Worship as seen in the Bible.

A. The term proskuneo is the main word used for worship both in the Septuagint (Greek O.T.) and in the New Testament. The term implied a physical falling down in reverence before a visible majesty (Gen 42:6; Ex. 33:10; Judges 2:12).
B. The use of this term in the New Testament is found mostly in the Gospels as people are confronted with the visible, incarnate Christ (26x, Matt. 28:9) and in the book of Revelation as the saints and elders are in the presence of the visible, risen Christ (21x, Rev. 22:8,9).
C. This term for worship is only used once in the New Testament letters (I Cor. 14:25), and it doesn’t occur at all in the letters of Peter, James, and John. Why? Because in the age between the ascension and the second coming Christ is not visibly here to worship. Thus, as John Piper states, “worship is radically internalized and delocalized” (Brothers, We are not Professionals, 230).

III. What is “true worship?”

A. Worship is not about a location, but true worship is done in spirit and in truth (John 4:19- 24). “Inner spiritual reality replaces geographic locality.”
· Because God is spirit, proper worship of him is also a matter of spirit rather than physical location. Also, it must be noted that how we worship is based on who God is. Our theology of worship cannot be divorced from theology proper.
· Worship in spirit suggests a contrast to merely external conformity, but an internal working of the Spirit that produces Christ-likeness in our manner of living.
· Worshipping in truth refers to the worship of God consistent with His character (Jn 3:33), the character of the Word made flesh, who ultimately revealed His Father (Jn 14:6), and the inspired Word of God (Jn 17:17).

B. Worship is not about tradition, but true worship is an attitude of the heart (Matt. 6:5-8; 15: 8-9).

C. Worship is not about self-gratification, but true worship is an offering of our lives to God for His service and glory.
· Philip Ryken makes an astute observation when he states, “In this self-centered age, worship is no longer about glorifying God; it is about satisfying myself, even feeling good about myself. It is all about me – what I need, what I like, and what I’m getting out of it.” (City on a Hill, 57)
· All of life and ministry is an expression of an inner sense of worship based on the character of God and the work of Christ. Worship is seen primarily and significantly in a daily living out of our reasonable service. (Philippians 3:3; Romans 12:1, 2; Hebrews 13:12-16)

D. Worship is not about self-glorification, but true worship is about living in a way that reveals or expresses how great and glorious God is (Philippians 1:20-21; I Cor. 10:31; Col 3:17). “Worship is all about consciously reflecting the worth or value of God” (Piper, 233).

IV. We keep worship God-centered by keeping it Word-centered.
· “To worship God we must know who God is, but we cannot know who God is unless God first chooses to reveal Himself to us. God has done this in the Bible, which is why the Bible and the teaching of the Bible need to be central in our worship.” – James Montgomery Boice
· Because we believe that the content of worship comes from the Bible, we will strive to preach the Scriptures, teach the Scriptures, pray the Scriptures, study the Scriptures, sing the Scriptures and live the Scriptures! (2 Timothy 2:15; 3:16, 17; 4:2; Colossians 3:16)."

Peace of mind

Last night Royce brought home the form that shows that he now has merit status with the state of Kentucky (permanent employee and no longer on probation). It shows his raise as well. This has been a long time in coming and we have been riding a roller coaster as we learn the ropes of the employment system with state government. One of the most important things we have learned is that our peace and security have to rest with God alone, He is the only secure thing in our lives. Everything else can change at a moments notice, but God never changes. God can be counted on completely and the peace that comes from Him is the only true peace. I was reading in Isaiah 9 this morning and the following verses grabbed my attention:
Isaiah 9:6-7
"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this."
This lead me to look up Philippians 4:4-9:
"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be know to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts andyour minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you."
and Proverbs 3:5-7:
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil."
Because God is in charge of our lives, anxieties have no place in our lives. When our human nature makes us anxious, we should seek the Lord to remove such anxiety and replace it with His peace. God will never abandon His children, He walks with, guides and carries them through all the storms of this life. My thoughts should dwell on Him and His ways, my mind should be on that which is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent, and worthy of praise. This pretty much rules out stewing over my circumstances and problems. When my mind begins to drift that way, I need to seek the Lord and His scriptures to get back onto the right things. I need to trust God's understanding of my circumstances and not mine. Life is all about God, not about mankind.
Thank the Lord that I live at the mercy of God and not at the whim of man!

Dryer bowling and the sandbox

Royce and I had some fun this afternoon after Millie Anne went down for her nap. We brought home a dryer from Ohio this past weekend. We decided to attempt to unload the dryer from the van and bring it into the house just the two of us. I pulled the van around to the condo complex parking lot behind our house and Royce cleared the deck for the momentious entrance. Well, as Royce eased the dryer out of the van, it became abundantly clear that I was going to have trouble lifting it. Both of us were having trouble finding good places to grab a hold of the dryer. Reminiscent of a Friends episode, we started out by "pivot"-ing the dryer through the grass (tearing out large chunks of turf with the little feet on the dryer. Then I noticed that the condo lawn care people had just planted new grass on the edge of the condo complex's lot. We couldn't keep up the "pivot"-ing technique and avoid ripping up their work. Another attempt at lifting the dryer failed, so we had to come up with a creative idea. And thus the new sport of dryer bowling was born. We began to flip the dryer end over end through the "lane" of bushes and onto our back porch. For that perfect strike, we strategically placed two boards heading up from the porch and in through the sliding glass door. We bowled a perfect game... I just wish there had been someone to take a picture, it would have been hysterical!
This summer we got Millie Anne a red ladybug sandbox through the generosity of her grandparents. When we attempted to get her to play in it, she just cried and shyed away. She would laugh as long as the ladybug's lid was closed, but would back away as soon as we tried to coax her into playing with the sand. This evening all that changed. With a newly acquired bucket and shovel set, we headed out once more to see if Millie would take to the sandbox. I started out gradually, by getting her to laugh at the funny ladybug on the porch. Then I opened the lid slowly and began to show her how to use the shovel to play with the sand. I demonstrated how to use the shovel to put sand in the bucket. She watched for a little while and I handed her the other shovel. She circled nearer and nearer to the sandbox, and when I squatted on the opposite side of the box from her, she gingerly squatted down and picked up some sand. She ran the sand through her fingers, buried her hands in the sand and felt its texture over and over again. She sprinkled some sand into the bucket and then dumped out the sand. By far, her favorite thing to do was pick up the sand and watch it fall. We'll have to work on keeping the sand in the sandbox, but we sure had a blast! When she was done, we headed upstairs for a much needed bath. Nothing like getting good and clean after getting good and dirty (or is that sandy?).