Discontent can come in many forms, disguised as many different things. But the bottom line is that discontent is the result of looking for contentment in the wrong things. If you are like a small child who needs a new toy every few minutes, you will quickly hit the wall. The brightly colored toys may take your mind off your troubles, but they get boring quickly, and they don’t satisfy. Once we have plowed through everything in the toy basket, it’s pretty much a rerun, so we look elsewhere, restless for something new to keep us distracted.

Discontent comes of being self-absorbed. How am I doing? Am I happy? Do I have a hard life? Am I too fat? Too thin? Too broke? Picked on? Ignored? Am I under-appreciated? Is my car too old and my house too small? Discontent is all about me. Continue reading ‘A Restless Discontent’

One of the things our church has sought to do is include the little ones in the service. We treat them as though they belong with us, because they do. We used to have a full-fledged Sunday school or children’s church during the “adult” service way back when, but over the years it has fallen out of use. The parents wanted to keep the children with them rather than send them off to their own service. So we have many little ones of all ages, and they sit with us and participate at their own little level. From all I can tell, they love it. Now I know that some of you belong to communions with a different understanding of these things, and so I am just describing what we do here.

Now of course we have a couple of rooms available for parents (a mothers’ room and a fathers’ room) with piped-in sound, so parents can bail if they need to. Some parents go in and out quite a bit (especially with babies) while the kids are learning how to sit quietly. But we are used to a certain amount of childish noises, and we like it that way. They are a very important part of the covenant community, and we want them to join Continue reading ‘Little Ones in Church’

It seems our friends in Holland know how to party. When the Merkles were visiting Holland last month, they picked up these party decorations and kindly bestowed them on us, like merchant ships bringing their goodies from afar. We had a couple of birthdays in mid-July, and so we had a worthy excuse to hang them up. But now I don’t have the heart to take them down, they are so cheery. I’m thinking November they’ll come down, and I’ll put them back up in February!

Of course it would be nice if a dress code from heaven fell down to us telling us exactly how much skin should be covered, etc. But the dress code from heaven has already been stated: “that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation….which is proper for women professing godliness…” (1 Tim. 2:9-10).

The Christian faith is not a faith of rules and regulations but of liberty and wisdom. Women are to exercise and express their faith in God by many means, one of those being how we dress. And this requires wisdom. Official dress codes/rules have their place in schools or work places. But when it comes to how we live and apply God’s Word personally, we are to use wisdom. If we are simply given a list of rules, we don’t need to think for ourselves. We don’t need wisdom. Continue reading ‘Dress Codes’

So you’re going to the beach for vacation, or you are taking your kids to the pool, and you need to update the wardrobe, so you look for a swimsuit. Something you might consider decent to wear for your public appearances poolside. But, yikes, it’s still just as bad as ever. You are invited to pay large sums of money for small stretchy pieces of colored fabric. You are then supposed to fold the flesh into these little stretchy things, and, even nuttier, get them wet in full view of family, friends, and strangers. Surely someone has slipped a cog somewhere.

No woman I know of has been forced to be seen in this gear. It seems to be done freely, by choice, not by coercion of any kind. In fact, some women actually enjoy this ritual. I can tell you which ones they are. They are the ones who think they look good in a swimsuit. And some of them actually do. But that doesn’t excuse or explain the exhibitionism. Continue reading ‘Lovely Swimwear’

My good man has written a satirical novel that you can read on line here. And please notice, I’ve attached a new link on the left so you can go there any time you want. He will be posting a new chapter each week. A serial thriller! Don’t miss it!