Snowed-in Sunday

With Sunday services cancelled this past week due to piles of snow, the Plank family had a little service of our own.  It was to be a simple time of teaching the kids biblical truths followed by a few hymns of praise along with prayers.  But things became unraveled.

It all started after our reading of Jesus’ parable of the “Good Samaritan” from Luke 10.  I thought it might be helpful to show the children this parable depicted in a video from a wonderful series titled “Modern Parables“.  The DVD shows a man beaten by robbers, with bruises and a little blood.  One of my children at some point was overcome with tears.  Another one then exclaimed: “I feel like I’m gonna throw up!”  I rushed this child to the bathroom while officially and hurriedly ending our little service.  I had not anticipated that the “Good Samaritan” would evoke great emotion and nausea.  Still later, one of my children awoke late at night due to a nightmare from seeing this video.  Great job Doug.  Brilliant.

Moral of the story: stick with “Veggie Tales” next time.  Better yet, dads: persevere in your pursuit of leading your family to seek God together.  May you find grace to keep at it, especially in these younger years of tears and vomit.

 

Monday News

Evan Kane to Haiti – Evan Kane is currently in Haiti assisting in the relief effort following last month’s earthquake. Evan will be working through the Virginia Mennonite Missions. His contact is a missionary in Haiti related to his brother-in-law that is the Chief Information Officer for a hospital outside of Port-au-Prince. Please pray for Evan.

EDIT:  Evan notified us to let us know that he is NOT currently in Haiti. He is waiting to see if he is assigned to a team. We will keep you posted when he leaves.

Harrison Dennis to Africa – Last week Harrison’s oldest brother died at age 60 of an apparent heart attack. He was very close to his brother. He was the one who looked out for Harrison as they were growing up. In addition, just before he died his mother went into the hospital. She is dying and will most likely not come home. Harrison, with the help of friends at Crossway, will have the opportunity to return to his home country of Liberia this coming week to attend his brother’s funeral and visit his mother for the last time.

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Christopher Haughery – graduated cum laud from Temple University this past Friday with a degree in Marketing and Advertising. Congratulations Chris!

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Elaine Jaenke shares the following on her engagement to Matt Benner - Two of my favorite attributes of God are His Sovereignty and His sense of humor.  I have grown to appreciate and understand each of these in unparalleled ways over the past several months… In 2003, I sat across from a dear friend who had just confessed his deep affections and desires to pursue a relationship with me, and responded with “I truly cherish your friendship, but there is someone out there so much better for you than I am.”  Seven years later (January 22), I found myself looking into the eyes of that same dear friend as he said, “Elaine Rebbecca, would you do me the honor of making me the happiest man in the world by becoming my wife?” and responding with a drastically different answer (one that may have included a bit of squealing, some skipping, and a resounding, “I would love to!”).  Matthew and I are planning to get married on the evening of Saturday, June 19 at William Kain Park in York.

David Oliver and Krista Herr were engaged on January 30. In David’s words,

“Krista and my friendship began in our I/O Senior group in 2007. In August of that year I left Pennsylvania for Hillsdale College. While I was away we corresponded a lot . . .

Read the rest of their story here.

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Blizzard 2010 shots

 

Snow Day: A message from Peter Privitera

 

Mindless… Part 2

Well my Christmas tree is down and has most likely been made into mulch by now (read Lori’s post Mindless)… the Christmas decorations are all put away… but where did I put my focus?

Ah, it’s February. The longest month of the year.

Or maybe it’s the fact that I lost my email account two weeks ago. I got a new one two days later. Then we lost internet access… for a year….I mean a week now. I have spent hours on the phone trying to get reconnected. (Please!! I have money!) I’ve tried to be gracious and enjoy the humor of the moment. I’ve had a chance to talk with lots of people I don’t know… people that don’t want to know me.

Or maybe it’s the fine layer of concrete dust that I watched travel from the garage to every corner of the house on Monday. My hard-working husband had to cut up the concrete floor for a new drain line… and the dust traveled through closed doors. Don’t get me wrong… my husband’s great. That job needed to be done. But now I have to be great. (Translate: clean the whole house.)

Sometimes you’ve just got to laugh! And go make something yummy in the kitchen.

Here’s a new favorite recipe from my new favorite recipe book The Pioneer Woman Cooks.

Pico De Gallo
yellow or red onions
Roma tomatoes
cilantro
jalapenos
lime or lemon juice
salt

Dice up the onions into small bits. Dice up an amount of tomatoes equal in quantity to the onions. (I use 1 onion to about 5 Roma tomatoes) Grab a bunch of cilantro equal in quantity to the tomatoes and chop it up pretty finely. Chop up 1 seeded jalapeno very fine (2 if you’re using more onion & tomato & cilantro). Mix together in a bowl. Squeeze lime juice or lemon juice over it all and salt to taste.

This is great with tortilla chips. Or with tacos, on grilled chicken, with scrambled eggs…

 

Rescuing Ambition

Dave Harvey is coming out with another great book. This book looks like it will have a wonderful impact on a society driven by selfish ambition. But not all ambition is bad. Here is an intro from the Amazon site:

This pioneering book rescues ambition from suspicion by putting it to work for the glory of God.

Ambition has developed a reputation synonymous with the love of earthly honor and fame hunting. As a result, the organ of ambition—the God-implanted drive to improve, produce, develop, and create—is neglected and well on its way to paralysis. For some Christians, dreams are numbed. For others, there are no dreams; life just happens. One thing is certain: ambition needs help.

Dave Harvey is calling for a rescue. He wants to snatch ambition from the heap of failed motivations and put it to work for the glory of God. To understand our ambition, we must understand that we are on a quest for glory. Where we find glory determines the success of our quest. With his transparent humor and conversational tone, Harvey expounds on insights from Scripture and everyday life as he calls readers to reach further and dream bigger for the glory of God.

 

On Government

If you were at our Family Meeting this past Sunday evening, then you received a copy of a brief position paper we did on the relationship between Christians and Civil Government. But in case you weren’t there, or if you would like an electronic copy, we decided to post it here. Our relationship to the authorities that God has placed in our lives (be they parents, pastors, or government officials) says a lot about our relationship to God. It is certainly a matter for much careful thinking and much wisdom. We therefore commend this paper to your study.

You may download a copy here:

Dual Citizenship

 

Hardest place to pray?

Paul Miller in his book “A Praying Life” argues that the American culture is likely the hardest place in the world to pray.  He may be right:

We are so busy that when we slow down to pray, we find it uncomfortable.  We prize accomplishments, production.  But prayer is nothing but talking to God.  It feels useless, as if we are wasting time.  Every bone in our bodies screams, “Get to work.”  When we aren’t working, we are used to being entertained.  Television, the Internet, video games, and cell phones make free time as busy as work.  When we do slow down, we slip into a stupor.  Exhausted by the pace of life, we “veg out” in front of a screen or with earplugs.

Miller nails it for me.  There have often been times that I have attempted prayer only to find that after ten minutes of one distraction after another, I simply give up.  Prayer is hard for the person who isn’t convinced by Scripture about the varied benefits of talking with God.  For me, distractions come because I believe the lie that something else might hold greater benefit.

Ten minutes in prayer are not enough for the soul that has tasted and knows that in Christ are “fullness of joy and pleasures evermore” (Ps. 16:11).  I have found “A Praying Life” a wonderful reminder of these truths and a wonderful encouragement to simply seek God.