I really have no business with a computer

So, I still need help with my iTunes.

Also, I really wanted to post this video on my blog here, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. So, if you're interested (hopefully) you can follow the link to a sad super bowl related church video.

I've got nothing against the super bowl. I happen to love sports more than your average female. And the super bowl is a great occasion for a party. If we had good reception on our t.v. we might host one, but I'm pretty sure no one wants to come over to watch it "snow" in Tampa.

I must get my Renewing Your Mind podcast!

I'm having some serious problems with iTunes. Any of you tech-savvy folks have any tips?

Every time iTunes gets shut down (when computer restarts, etc.) all my current podcasts disappear (everything that's been downloaded appears in a playlist, but I have to resubscribe to everything all over again if I want to get something new).

Help!

Kids are cuter in hats.

Is it just me, or are all kids cuter in hats?

Style or Substance?

John MacArthur referenced this article at the conclusion of today's "Grace to You" radio broadcast (which I make the kids listen to with me on the way to Phillip's school.) It's a great, succinct treatment of church music. I couldn't agree more!

This is not a problem that arose with the current generation. It dates back to an era whose musical style would seem quite old-fashioned by anyone’s standards today.

Before the middle part of the 19th century or so, hymns were wonderful didactic tools, filled with Scripture and sound doctrine, a medium for teaching and admonishing one another, as we are commanded in Colossians 3:16. Most hymns were written not by teenagers with guitars, but by pastors and theologians: Charles Wesley, Augustus Toplady, Isaac Watts.

Consider the profound content of this hymn about God’s attributes, written by Walter C. Smith in the 1800s:

Immortal, invisible
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great Name we praise.

Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;
Thy justice, like mountains, high soaring above
Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.

To all, life Thou givest, to both great and small;
In all life Thou livest, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish—but naught changeth Thee.

Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight;
But of all Thy rich graces this grace, Lord, impart
Take the veil from our faces, the vile from our heart.

All laud we would render; O help us to see
‘Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee,
And so let Thy glory, Almighty, impart,
Through Christ in His story, Thy Christ to the heart.

Around the start of the twentieth century, however, church music took a different direction. Musicians and singers without formal pastoral or theological training (such as Ira Sankey and Philip Bliss) became the dominant songwriters in the church. Choruses with lighter, simpler subject matter proliferated. Popular Christian music became more subjective. Songs focused on personal experience and the feelings of the worshiper. The newer compositions were often called “gospel songs” to distinguish them from “hymns.”

Consider this familiar chorus, written in 1912 by C. Austin Miles:

In the Garden
I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

He speaks, and the sound of His voice,
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.

I’d stay in the garden with Him
Though the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.

Aside from an oblique reference to “the Son of God” in the last line of the first stanza, there’s no distinctly Christian content to that song at all.

“In the Garden” is by no means the only wretched favorite from the gospel-song era, either. “Love Lifted Me” (1912) and “Count Your Blessings” (1897) are two more “gospel songs” without much actual gospel content. If you want to see what thin gruel some of the “oldies” offer by way of actual biblical or doctrinal substance, review almost any random list of favorite old “gospel songs.”

Modern musicians have pushed this trend even further and often see music as little more than a device for stimulating intense emotion. The biblically-mandated didactic role of music is all but forgotten.

There are so many GOOD hymns (both old and new) out there -- it just boggles my mind that we ever sing the bad ones!!!

Ruth Sings

She was in a singing mood so mommy ran to grab the camera.

Here's "And Can It Be."
She got a little distracted by her cheese so she skipped to the chorus:



Translation:

Amazing love.
How can it be
that thou my God should die for me?


Here's a better sample of her singing skills. Notice the nice pitch accuracy:

Philidelphia Conference on Reformed Theology

or the PCRT for short. It's coming to Sacramento again. This is the one weekend a year I get to pretend I'm a theologian. I love that the conference is full of good Presbyterians and Reformed folks, but it's hosted by a Baptist church.

If you're in Sacramento put it on your calendar and register early!

Here's the schedule and where to register.

Why I'm glad we home school:

I didn't have to wait in line in the middle of the night in JANUARY to make sure my 5-yr-old could get into the best public school (which, by the way, our tax dollars pay for to the tune of something like $12,000 per pupil a year? pardon the rant). Apparently, parents camped out over night on Sunday to get one of the 80 spots in the best elementary school in the Sacramento school district. (I tried to find a story to link you to, but you'll just have to take my word for it.)

There's a lot of other reasons we home school. There are also some good reasons we sent Phillip to a Christian school this year. Like, now he knows how to tie a tie (a real tie, not a clip on).

Here's another reason:


Sarah takes her sister to play on their new bunk bed so mommy can check her email :-)

Are you going to have any more?

Found this great post linked from Amy's Humble Musings. This expresses a lot of my convictions on the matter, in case anyone was wondering (I put in bold the part I really like).


"Is Eight Enough," by Octamom

There is an assumption that M and I set out to build a large family, but this was not the case. Our plan included the development of his law and political career, which I would support through my burgeoning media opportunities. We would focus exclusively on our careers for about a decade, then take a three month sabbatical to the Greek Isles, whereupon I would ovulate on a timetable, we would conceive and presto, bingo, right on schedule, right when we had our careers headed for zenith, right when we had a certain amount of dollars in the bank, right when we had our dream home built and furnished, then there would be Baby.

Imagine the shock to the 10 year plan when 7 months into the marriage I took a pregnancy test that registered a positive result. Imagine M's shock when I went from full-out television career woman to a gestating soon-to-be mommy who in a blink decided to ditch my career to stay home with the spawn. Fifteen months into our marriage we welcomed 1 of 8, 105 months shy of the designated time we had set aside for her arrival.

I really thought she would be an only child. Tough delivery, tough financial times, tough strain on a young marriage. Incredible little girl, incredible bond, incredible growth. The balance of a baby in tow.

After 2's arrival, we thought we were done. After 3's arrival, we thought we were done. After 4's arrival, M really thought we were done...and I wasn't so sure. After 5's arrival, I begged for 6. After 6's arrival, I thought we were done. And then there were 7 & 8.

What I have found is this: it's all about faith. It's all about trust. I don't know how many children people should have. I do know we should pray a whole lot more about it. I don't think that big families are somehow more 'spiritual'. I do know that the process of family building is holy ground, whether by biological or adoptive or foster or mentoring means. I don't have the answers to all things reproduction. I do think we need to quit thinking in terms of 'what can I handle' and think instead 'how can I be stretched.' We tend to make decisions in this arena based in fear, not in faith.

We've had easy pregnancies, we've had hard ones. I've had some fast, smooth labors and I've had some zingers. We've had two miscarriages. We've had times we hoped to be pregnant and weren't. We have two girls with special needs. We have eight children who all come with their own individuals strengths and weaknesses. We are two people with strengths and weaknesses. We mess up. We get back up. We are blessed.

So in the end, the answer is this: we are standing on holy ground. To be invited by an infinitely creative Creator to participate in such an amazing way to make people is holy.

I don't know about it being "holy" but it sure is humbling. Russell and I joke about how we sure wish we waited to have kids every time Sarah does something like this: