Afflictions

Tonight, Carol and I read I Thessalonians 3 & 4 in our Bible reading. Paul wrote this epistle relatively early on in his ministry. In the first part of chapter 3, he was telling the Thessalonian believers not to be surprised that both he and they were being afflicted - he had warned them ahead of time that these trials would come. In fact, he said, Christians have been destined for trials. In their cases, it most likely meant being persecuted for their faith.

Wow. Who wants to join a club whose membership are destined for trials and afflictions? I think of several in our church body who have very painful physical afflictions. I read and teach through the gospel accounts where Jesus healed all sorts of people of all sorts of sicknesses. Sometimes it is a story about a specific individual, sometimes it is just a simple statement like often occurs in the Gospel of Matthew, that "He healed them all," in reference to large numbers of sick people coming to Jesus. As I pray for these faithful saints, I point out to God how much He would be glorified if He acted to heal them, either directly or through conventional medical means. Then I must consider this.

1. God was greatly glorified when Christ healed people directly during His physical ministry on earth.
2. I consider how greatly God would be glorified if He would heal and ease the affliction of those believers for whom I pray.
3. If God chooses to not heal them, perhaps it is because He receives more glory as the rest of us look on, and see how He manifests Himself in the lives of these individuals through these trials.
4. How great that glory must be!
   

Count the Cars

Count the cars in the driveway, gentle reader. There are two. We have lived in this house for more than 20 years, and for 16 of those years this part of the homestead has been the scene of the "driveway shuffle," as there has been at least 3, and sometimes 4 full-time vehicles calling this their home berth. I honestly can't remember all of the vehicles that have resided here over these years, but I know the driveway has been home to at least 17 different variations of Oldsmobile, Chrysler, Pontiac, Plymouth, Chevrolet, Dodge, GMC, Nissan and Toyota. Some were bought brand-new, some were much older than the teenagers who drove them, having formerly belonged to a grandparent or even a great-grandparent. Some were big enough to seat a large family in comfort on long car trips, some were closer to a "go-cart" than a family car.

Anyway, the point is that now there are two, only two, as all of the children have moved out onto their own. This is a parable of our family, as well. Carol and I have been married for 34 years, and for 32 of them we have had children living with us (there are a lot of years between the youngest and oldest children). It was a lot of fun to be a family of 6 (or 3, or 4, or 5). It is still fun to be a family of 15 (more or less) and a household of 2. Life changes, but life is good.

Doo, doo, doo

In the words (almost) of CCR, the title of this photo is "Doo, doo, doo, lookin' out Matt & Amy's back door!" Yesterday we moved Matt & Amy's furniture into their soon-to-be new home. After we had finished unloading, one by one the workers and I came and sat down in their living room, and as we did, each one looked out the back door and said, "Wow, this is peaceful." And there wasn't even a flying spoon.

Anyway, Matt will be the one living there until the wedding (less than 2 weeks now). Here are a few more photos of the new home and the happy couple to be.

Squirrel!

This past Saturday morning, Carol had to work, so I went to get my 18-month old granddaughter Alyssa and kept her for a few hours by myself. It was nice to have some time with her all by myself. She followed me around and helped me put together this (hopefully) squirrel-proof enclosure for some young seedlings. We were doing real well working in the driveway until it started to rain and had to move into the garage door opening. Alyssa played with chalk on the drive or concrete floor, climbed into her little car and told me "bye", handed me tools and supplies whether I needed them or not, and sat on my lap while we put on the screening. When it was time to go and get Carol and I put Alyssa into her car seat, she thought we were leaving for good, cried and pointed back to where we had been working, and didn't want to leave. We came back with Grandma Carol and had some more good time.

Anyway, the squirrel-proof cage didn't get finished until Monday evening, with Matt and Carol's help. Here are a couple of pictures of it. I call it "Farina."

Update

Just to update everybody on my bi-monthly visit with the cancer doc last week (on the same day and at the same time Brooke was born, which is why I haven't bothered sending this out earlier). The blood work came back showing the cancer numbers have decreased by half since the last check up two months ago. It is now only 5% of where it was at diagnosis 2 1/2 years ago. Again, the doctor carefully evaluated the overall situation to determine whether to continue the chemotherapy to possibly continue to gain the benefits of cancer decrease, or give break from the chemo for a while to let my body recover, or actually, to not push it past its ability to recover. Carol, greatly encouraged by the decrease in the cancer numbers, told the doctor, "He's tough - he can take it!" and the doc decided to continue the chemotherapy.

Lesson: don't take your wife with you to see your cancer doc while her grand baby is being born. Thanks again for all prayers, love and concern.

Welcome, Brooke Renee!

Brooke Renee Bennett arrived at 10:47 this morning, at 8 pounds and 14 ounces, and 20 inches long. Proud parents are Andrew and Julia. Everybody is doing well. We are all extremely grateful and excited.

Tool Time

This afternoon, while the ladies were having a bridal shower for my future daughter-in-law Amy, a few of us guys got together and had a Tool Time for Matt. Not wanting anyone to feel excluded but also not wanting anyone to feel obligated, I limited the invitations to a handful a men who have had (or are currently having) significant input into Matthew's life over the years, and who also like tools. Each man told Matt why the selected tool he gave was important for a man to have, and also gave Matt some good advice about married life (even the young single guys).

He got a really good foundation of tools for starting out. I appreciate each man's generosity, each man's advice, each man's investment in Matt over the years, past, present and future, and their prayers for Matt and Amy.



When I was a young man approaching the age to leave home, my Dad gave me a set of Craftsmen wrenches, sockets & ratchets, and screwdrivers. Today, 40 years later, they remain the foundation of my tool collection. Guess what I got for Matt just as quickly as I could get to the Sears store to buy them. We guys had a great time at the Tool Time.