Family of seven

Here's our first official family photo since Mary's birth. We all attended the wedding of some friends from church in the beautiful McKinley Park rose garden.


Seeing post-baby photos of myself is motivational, if you know what I mean.


And here's a little video of Mary being Mary:

Sometimes The Word isn't enough

Sometimes churches need a little help from a guest speaker or singer to get their message across.

Here's a story in the Bee today about how local churches are using musicians, actors and other celebrities to pack the pews.  A church in Rocklin defends the appearance of Natalie Grant, a gospel music recording artist, performing or, uh, "leading the music" this way:

"We truly believe that through Natalie's worship music and Pastor Greg's message that those who walk out of Sunset will feel a deeper more personal relationship with Jesus Christ," said Rodney Miller, church public information officer in an e-mail.

Another pastor defends the decision this way:

"Having a special guest gives members a good opportunity to invite family and friends to see the church," said Senior Pastor Rick Cole of Capital Christian Center. "Especially, one with a well-known story."

Sorry, but I'll just stick with the foolishness of the preached Word. 

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.  I Cor. 1:21-25

50th anniversary of the Pill

Interesting article here from Time.  Al Mohler contributes some thoughts near the end.  I had a strong reaction to this paragraph:

By the 1970s the true impact of the Pill could begin to be measured, and it was not on the sexual behavior of American women; it was on how they envisioned their lives, their choices and their obligations. In 1970 the median age at which college graduates married was about 23; by 1975, as use of the Pill among single women became more common, that age had jumped 2.5 years. The fashion for large families went the way of the girdle. In 1963, 80% of non-Catholic college women said they wanted three or more children; that plunged to 29% by 1973. More women were able to imagine a life that included both a family and a job, which changed their childbearing calculations. As an Indiana teacher, 23, told TIME in 1967, "When I got married I was still in college, and I wanted to be certain that I finished. Now we want to buy a home, and it's going to be possible a lot sooner if I teach. With the Pill I know I can keep earning money and not worry about an accident that would ruin everything."

"An accident that would ruin everything."  Ugh, what a sad way to refer to a baby.

Mary

She likes the swing.

She likes to eat.

She likes filling her diapers.

She's a sweetie.

Better pics to come soon...

Mary Geneva
8lbs 3oz
April 9 -- 4:15pm

So happy she's here!

for inquiring minds

Just to inform everyone of the latest news...
Got back from my last OB apmt. for this pregnancy.  Next time I see my Dr. I'll either be in labor or in the operating room.  I've been hoping (a lot) for another natural labor and delivery.  I've tried many of the "techniques" for getting labor started (yes, including castor oil -- I'm very committed).  I still have hope it could happen before Sunday.  But if it doesn't we've decided to go in and get her.  So one way or another we'll have a baby by Sunday!

We know God is sovereign over all things and we're praising Him for the crazy abundance of blessing He's already given us.

Say tuned for baby info...

Rick Warren? I thought it was a joke

Last week I saw bloggers posting things like "Rick Warren to Speak at Desiring God Conference." I thought it was an April fools joke. I guess it's not.

Here's a link to a thoughtful discussion of the issue by Challies. What do you think? Is it a good idea? bad idea? bad idea but not a big deal? Or is it a big deal? Here's some excerpts:

John Piper inviting Rick Warren to speak at the conference is not that big of a deal. It matters, to be sure, but not enough to get too riled up. It's important that we put it in its proper context. Piper did not invite Robert Schuller or the Dalai Lama, someone who outright denies the gospel. Warren professes faith in Christ and professes an evangelical understanding of that faith.

Having said all of this, I still believe it would have been best for Piper not to invite Warren. In inviting Warren, Piper is implicitly downplaying the reasons that many Reformed Christians have expressed concern about Warren and his ministry and have separated themselves from both.

Warren has proven repeatedly that he does not and will not honor the Bible. He preaches from the Bible, he knows vast amounts of Scripture and I'm sure he loves studying the Bible. But his ministry makes clear that he does not truly honor it in the way he uses it. I hardly even know where to begin here. Turn to any of Warren's books and you will see that this is the case. Time and time again he has misused and abused the Bible.

Second only to my concern about Rick Warren's consistent history of misusing Scripture is this: he seemingly seeks to be all things to all men. As you might perceive, I am not using this phrase in a complimentary way. I want to be careful here, but what I have seen from Warren is not so much that he will claim to be both A and B, but that he will claim to be A and Not A. There is a strange kind of subjectivism in his allegiances and in his beliefs.

Piper is understandably excited about Warren's regard for Jonathan Edwards. Yet we canot deny that his ministry looks nothing like a ministry influenced by Edwards. Can you even imagine what Edwards would say about The Purpose Driven Life or an Easter church service featuring the Jonas Brothers? A and not A.

While I don't doubt that Rick Warren loves the church and loves the Lord, neither do I doubt that he does harm to the people and to the Name he loves so much. To invite him to this conference is to downplay all of the harm brought about by his unbiblical and pragmatic style of ministry.

 

I kinda think it's a big deal.  But maybe I'm just looking for something to get upset about besides the fact that I'M STILL PREGNANT!

Does he know how good he's got it?

Phillip asked to participate in a summer academic program at Sac State where students in grades 6 - 9 can take classes for a few weeks at a time in subjects such as computer programing, Japanese, cooking or robotics engineering. We, of course, said, "sure!"

In order to determine if the students are qualified to participate in the classes the program has them take a "College Ability Test." It's a shorter SAT-type test with verbal and math sections. Phillip didn't feel like he did very well on the verbal -- word analogies -- he could use some extra work in the vocabulary department. Well, compared to the other students that took the test he scored in the 81st percentile for verbal and 91st percentile for math. In other words, he did better than 81% and 91% of the other 65,000 6-9th grade students in the greater Sacramento area.

Ok, so I'm bragging about the boy a little. We've always know he's had a good head on his shoulders. But he's also been known to do some stupid stuff too. For example, when attempting to make a pizza a few weeks ago he got frustrated at the instructions to "pat the dough into the pan." "Sharon," he asks, "what's a pan?" Ugh. We also had an epic fail on a science project last quarter due to systemic procrastination disorder.

Test results do not necessarily predict future outcomes. In the next 5 years Phillip will have a demanding academic program, search and apply to colleges, decided how to support himself, and, with God's grace, become a man.

So, this test is a good encouragement to us as parents and to Phillip as a student. He's got the brains, now comes the real test...