Well, it's been a long time since I've posted anything on the blog; I'll try to be more consistent.

Here are some of R.C. Sproul's thoughts on prayer:

"Prayer, like everything else in the Christian life, is for God's glory & for our benefit, in that order. Everything that God does, everything that God allows and ordains, is in the supreme sense for His glory. It is also true that while God seeks His own glory supremely, man benefits when God is glorified. We pray to glorify God, but also to receive the benefits of prayer from His hand. Prayer is for our benefit, even in light of the fact that God knows the end from the beginning. It is our privilege to bring the whole of our finite existence into the glory of His infinite presence."

It's our prayer that God blesses you lavishly with His love.

We have only a few patches of snow left over from last week's snow storm. I'm starting to think "spring", but I know there's a bit of winter left. However, camelias are blooming, & daffodils will be in glorious bloom by the end of this month.

Here's a thought from our church bulletin.:

"People all over the country shop for churches that "work for them." This attitude is terribly wrong. "Church" is not an event. It is people --people whom God calls us to love. What is more, it is in a very important sense an involuntary community of people: we don't choose our brothers and sisters--God does. And sometimes (often times) those people are not terribly compatible with us--not the people we would choose to hang out with. But it is this very incompatibility that is so mportant, for at least two reasons. First, learning to love the people I don't like is by far the best way to learn how to love (it's easy to love people I happen to like). Second, the church is supposed to be a sociological miracle--a demonstration that Jesus has died and risen to create a new humanity composed of all sorts of people.
Charles Drew from A Journey Worth Taking

Worship is to be an act, rather than a receiving of an experience.

We will be moving to our new hospital (Riverbend) in August. No one gets vacation from May through September.) The current site will still be in use, with an emergency room, 4-bed ICU, inpatient care for geriatric patients, among other things. I will be working at Riverbend, as pulmonary function testing will be done there.

All for now.

Margaret

Meaningful quotation from John Calvin:

"Our Neighbor bears the image of God: to use him, abuse him, or misuse him is to do violence to the person of God who images himself in every human soul, the Fall not withstanding. Not only do I despise my flesh when I wish to oppress someone, but I violate the image of God which is in me."

I haven't had time to keep up the blog, but now that Christmas is over, I'll get back to it. It was good to have all the family (with the exception of Matt, who couldn't get the time off) together for our Christmas celebration on the 23rd. We had our usual dinner @ the Oregon electric station, & this year, since Mariah's age is in double digits, she was allowed to order steak from the adult menu, much to her delight.

On Dec. 16, we were able to attend a Christmas concert by harpist Bronn Journey in Auburn, WA. Matt played cello & guitar in Bronn's orchestra. The music was great, & Bronn's humor kept the crowd engaged.

More later.

updates

Hi,

Haven't had a chance to blog lately. We had Thanksgiving at Merrick & Hannah's this year - their first Thanksgiving in their first home. It was a wonderful meal, & we had a great time with everyone, especially the Grandkids. Diefenbaughs were in North Bend this year for Thanksgiving, but they stopped by on their way down & back.

We are on vacation this week & are presently at the Diefenbaughs. I presented a German lesson to Kyler's 1st grade class at Veritas School in Newberg. We'll head up to Hillsboro to spend some time with Gracie, oh, & Merrick & Hannah too. Then on up to Sultan to the Haverlys. We' re celebrating Maleah's 7th birthday on Dec. 1 (real birthday is Dec. 5). She's having a ballet party at the dance studio in Monroe where she takes lessons.

Mariah has the lead role in her church's Christmas play: Hark the Herald Angel who Sang Off-key. (She's Hark.) Hopefully singing off-key is just acting, as she will be singing a solo in the school's Christmas program. All of the grandchildren are doing well & developing their God-given talents

All for today. Hope this day you become closer to the Lord.

Interesting thought from our church bulletin:

"We are a nation obsessed.

American culture is nothing more than a pastiche (hodgepodge) of fixations. We are obsessed with health. We are obsessed with pleasure. We are obsessed with speed. We are obsessed with efficiency. In simplest terms, we are obsessed by the desire to accelerate every element of our existence in a futile attempt to experience as much of life as we can in the shortest possible time. We have all entered a race to devour the largest volume of gratification before it kills us."

A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas
"The Amazing McNugget Diet (November 1996)
Chuck Klosterman IV

This evening we will go to our Bible study in Cottage Grove. As I mentioned before, we are studying Phillip Yancy's book on Prayer. Here's another good thought from the book:

"I realize that my image of God, more than anything else, determines my degree of honesty in prayer. Do I trust God with my naked self? Foolishly, I hide myself in fear that God will be displeased, though in fact the hiding may be what displeases God most. From my side, the wall seems like self-protection; from God's side it looks like lack of trust. In either case, the wall will keep us apart until I acknowledge my need and God's surpassing desire to meet it. When I finally approach God, in fear and trembling, I find not a tyrant, but a lover.

The apostle Paul prayed 'that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.' I doubt Paul prayed this prayer once only; for my part I have to pray it every day. The most important purpose of prayer may be to let our true selves be loved by God."

Hope you have a wonderful week!