Accomplishment!

I now have the great pleasure of removing one item from my 7x7's under "Things I can't do well." However the fact that there are many more items competing for that spot eliminates any temptation to boast about it!


The one thing I can do a little better now then when I penned my 7x7's, is understand God and time (key word: little). To whom or what do I owe this elucidation? The long desired book "Time and Eternity: Exploring God's Relationship to Time," written by William Lane Craig. If you are a little strange like me, and find boring things like philosophy and logic stimulating, and if you have deep nagging questions concerning how God relates to time, I would highly recommend this book. I will spare you all the juicy details, but will leave you with Craig's conclusion, with which I concur.


"It therefore follows from our arguments that God is (present tense) in time. He exists now. But on the Christian doctrine of creation, the world had a beginning, though God did not. Did time exist prior to the moment of creation? Is God, existing alone without creation, timeless or temporal in such a state? I presented three arguments to show that (metric) time is finite in the past, so that God existing without the world must exist either in an amorphous time or, more plausibly, timelessly. In short, given the reality of tense and temporal becoming, the most plausible construal of divine eternity is that God is timeless without creation and temporal since creation."



Agreement? Disagreement? I'd like to hear your thoughts.



-Max

Expository Preaching Conference

Max and I were very blessed last weekend to attend the expository preaching conference hosted by Vision Forum in Wakeforest, North Carolina. Some 25-30 men attended.


The conference was a wonderful help to me. It challenged some presuppositions I had about preaching from the past. I had a negative view of improving my "technical preaching skills". I now see the benefit of it. I will never read the scriptures in the same way. I was skeptical about the "sample sermons", but they were real and were effective, as the Word, in my own heart, even in that setting. I have been humbled and had my mind changed.


I so appreciated that these "technical skills" were firmly connected with the exhortation to seek God's face for help, illumination, and conviction. I rejoiced to see that. May the two never be separated.


We were both thankful for the opportunity to meet and connect with likeminded men. We will both benefit from these relationships.


At right is a picture of the famous swing in the Scott Brown home. We enjoyed an afternoon and evening of further discussion and fellowship, including scrambled egg sandwiches and chocolate shakes.


Together we all memorized Psalms 119:92 - Except thy law had been my delight, I would have perished in my afflictions.


Scott

Update!

No, the Parishes haven't died . . . they've actually been on vacation! A splendid vacation as a matter of fact, at home! Have you ever vacationed at home? If not, you should! While Max and Mr. Parish flew off to North Carolina to attend Vision Forum's "A Workshop on Expository Preaching," their family kicked back to try a thing never before done in their household. Since every single one of us has been snagged by a nasty bug of some sort, (Thanks for starting it Max!!!) we have been blowing our noses raw, watching movies, (last night we watched one about a family with 20 children! Quite a few being adopted special needs children. Twas' incredible to say the least.) reading, and enjoying ourselves and each other! We have one problem though, whenever Simon and I try to laugh, we begin to hack pitifully, causing us to laugh harder, thus hack harder! Tis' quite a predicament to not be able to laugh! :-)

So we look forward to the returning of our men, enjoy our vacation, and attempt to get well! :-)

Wishing you all beautiful days . . .

~Sally

Quote of the Day!

" The highest and most desirable state of the soul is to praise God in celebration for being alive." ~ Luci Swindoll 

Volleyball Victory

Today's volleyball game is one that should be recorded for posterity.


With Mom, Max, and Jeremy on the West team, and Dad, Simon, and Sally on the East team, the West team won 15 to 14.


What was remarkable about the game is that every point was gained on the serve, and not one point was made on a volley...on either side.


That should give you a glimpse into the volleyball skills of the Parish family. Watch out for Mom when she is serving.

Simon and the Tractor

Our tractor has been out of commision for over year, the engine having reached the end of it useful life. But Phil Seymour worked his magic and this morning he brought it back to us, completely overhauled.


If you know Simon, you will see the anticipation just oozing out of him. He is just itching for the chance to hook onto the bush hog and go for it!