Keller

I have finally jumped on the Tim Keller bandwagon. I had done a Bible study of his in high school and read various quotes and articles of his. But The Reason for God was the first book of his that I read. And I absolutely loved it.

I would describe this book as a slightly more practical version of Mere Christianity. Keller isn't as poetic and eloquent as Lewis. But he does delve more deeply into scientific and political issues.

Here is my favorite section of the book (from the Intermission):

"Here, then, we have a way forward. We should not try to 'look into the sun,' as it were, demanding irrefutable proofs for God. Instead we should 'look at what the sun shows us.' Which account of the world has the most 'explanatory power' to make sense of what we see in the world and in ourselves? We have a sense that the world is not the way it ought to be. We have a sense that we are very flawed and yet very great. We have a longing for love and beauty that nothing in this world can fulfill. We have a deep need to know meaning and purpose. Which worldview best accounts for these things?

Christians do not claim that their faith gives them omniscience or absolute knowledge of reality. Only God has that. But they believe that the Christian account of things--creation, fall, redemption, and restoration--makes the most sense of the world. I ask you to put on Christianity like a pair of spectacles and look at the world with it. See what power it has to explain what we know and see.

If the God of the Bible exists, he is not a man in the attic, but the Playwright. That means we won't be able to find him like we would find a passive object with the powers of empirical investigation. Rather, we must find the clues to his reality that he has written into the universe, including into us. That is why, if God exists, we would expect to find that he appeals to our rational faculties. If we were make 'in his image' as rational, personal beings, there should be some resonance between his mind and ours. It also means that reason alone won't be enough. The Playwright can only be known through personal revelation. That is why we have to take a look at what the Bible says about God and the human condition.

In the Christian view, however, the ultimate evidence for the existence of God is Jesus Christ himself. If there is a God, we characters in his play have to hope that he put some information about himself in the play. But Christians believe he did more than give us information. He wrote himself into the play as the main character in history, when Jesus was born in a manger and rose from the dead. He is the one with whom we have to do."

If you haven't read this book yet, do it! It is an incredible book, both for Christians and non-Christians to read.

I just started his new book, King's Cross, and am really enjoying it as well.

Jack's baptism

This past Sunday, we had Jack baptized at Faith Presbyterian Church in Brookhaven, Mississippi.

This is actually not our "home" church, per say. But we are in a strange situation. We are still members of Christ Presbyterian in Oxford. We left there for Malawi and attended IBF (on campus) as well as various village and local churches throughout the year. In Jackson, we attended First Presbyterian, and would have joined. But then I started applying to graduate school, so we decided to wait. This past year, we have attended Christ Memorial Church, but have not joined. It is a great church, but there are some issues that we disagree with them on. There is one PCA church in Vermont, but it is 30 minutes away. We attempted going there at first, but it's just too far. There is also a PCA church plant starting here in Burlington, but it will be a while till they are ready to baptize.

So we asked if we could have Jack baptized at Faith. Faith is really special to us. I spent the last 3 years of high school attending Faith. We were married there. Faith commissioned us to go to Malawi. My dad is an elder there and my parents are really involved. It is a sweet, sweet church full of people that love us and that we love.

I hope that the next place we live will have a PCA church we can join. But we are so thankful that we were able to have Jack baptized at Faith this past Sunday!

Here is Jack, in his beautiful baptism gown. My mom made it--isn't she talented?!? And yes, he has a pacifier in his mouth, but it was about to be time for him to eat, and he was getting fussy.

A lot of people have problems with infant baptism. But a lot of people also don't understand infant baptism. We don't believe that Jack is now a Christian. We don't believe his baptism saves him. We believe that we deal with a Covenant God, a God who has grafted us into the tree of his people (the Jews). We believe that in the same way that circumcision was a sign of God's covenant with his people, so Jack's baptism is a sign and seal of God's covenant with His people. One of the primary ways God uses of advancing his kingdom on earth is through believing families. And we hope and pray that God will do just that through Jack.

Here are the questions asked of Bech and me as parents this past Sunday:

1. Do you acknowledge your child’s need of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, and the renewing grace of the Holy Spirit?

Basically, do we believe that Jack is a sinner who cannot save himself.

2. Do you claim God’s covenant promises in his behalf, and do you look in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ for his salvation, as you do for your own?

3. Do you now unreservedly dedicate your child to God, and promise, in humble reliance upon divine grace, that you will endeavor to set before him a godly example, that you will pray with and for him, that you will teach him the doctrines of our holy religion, and that you will strive, by all the means of God’s appointment, to bring him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?

Here are a couple of articles and links that explain infant baptism much better than I ever could. And here is a link to the section about baptism in the Book of Church Order.

Back Home!

We are back from the South! And I am sad. We had a wonderful (and busy!) time. I am ready to be done with school and be able to move back home!

I have lots and lots of pictures, but they are all on the upstairs computer. So for now, I will just share a few random things, and be back later with more pictures!

* Jack is a chunk! We weighed him at my dad's office last week and he is up to 13lbs, 9oz. A chunk!

* But a cute and very sweet chunk! He did amazingly on the planes. He didn't even cry. He had a few fussy moments on two of the flights, but overall he was incredible. We did almost miss our second flight on the way to New Orleans. We ran up just as they were calling out the final boarding call. But we made it!

* Jack did pretty well with his schedule. He was off for the first two days, just with traveling and church (although he did stay on his eating schedule). But after that, he got it all figured out again. He didn't sleep super great at night, but I think that's because we were sharing a room with him.

* I had 3 snowcones from my favorite place in Brookhaven. Plus, I had two Blondie Frappe's from Cups and two meals from Little Tokyo.

* We had 3 sip and see's. Well one wasn't an official sip and see, but basically it was! And Jack did pretty well at all of those. And I did well letting go of being OCD (or at least I think I did).

* Jack got baptized this past Sunday. I will do a separate post on that, but it was really special.

* Jack loved all of his aunts and uncles and his Doc. And of course his other grandparents, but he had met them already!

* Jack is now sick, for the first time. He just has a little cold (and I have it, too), but it is so miserable to not be able to make him feel better. He is still happy and smiley, and he hasn't run a fever yet. But he has a cough and a runny nose :(

* School starts in a week and a half--ahhh!

Okay, that's about it for what's going on in our lives right now. Oh wait, I forgot Bech! He just fired tons of stuff, and has put a lot up on his etsy site. Check it out. I may be biased, but it's really good!

my little chunk...

We had our two month doctors visit on Tuesday. It was 2 1/2 weeks early, because we wanted to get started on his shots before we took him on a plane with tons of people and before he got held by tons of people in Mississippi.

First of all, let me just say that the shots were horrible. Jack is not a screamer. He's not really even big cryer. When he fusses, he is pretty calm about him, compared to most babies. But when he got those shots, he screamed more than I have ever heard him scream before. It was so sad. Then he did a little more of that crying that night before bed (of course, once I swaddled him and put him down he was fine--I guess he was just tired and worked up about it all).

Second, we have a really large baby. He is in the 95th % in weight. He weighs 12 lbs, 12 oz and is 23 inches long. That means that in 2 weeks he has grown and inch and gained almost 2 lbs. Wow. When the assistant weighed Jack, I looked at him and said, "Are you sure? I mean, is that okay? Is that even healthy?" But our doctor assured us that his weight is fine. And I keep reminding myself that since Jack was a week and a half late, his adjusted age is more like 7 1/2 weeks.

We are doing Babywise, and there are a lot of groups out there that don't like it. But one of the main complaints against Babywise is that the babies on it don't eat enough (because it's parent led feeding) and don't thrive. Um, I think we are disproving that theory!

Here are some recent pictures of my little (smiling) chunk!

I love this little "come hither" look.

By the way, this outfit is a 3 - 6 month! But I do think this brand tends to run small.

We love our little guy...can't wait to bring him to the South!

Random Thoughts

* I will be in Mississippi in 3 days--yay! I cannot wait!

* I am ready for a Brookhaven style snowcone...there are few better things.

* I start school in just a few weeks. I am not excited about leaving Jack at a daycare 3 days a week.

* I just uploaded pictures of Jack to facebook. Facebook suggested that I tag those pictures as Blaise Braden...ha! I can't wait to go home and pull out all of the baby pictures and see who he looks like...maybe it is Blaise!

* Bech and I have 3 shows we watch every summer: So You Think You Can Dance, HGTV Design Star, and Next Food Network Star. This summer we had to give up SYTYCD...we just don't have the time or energy. But HGTV and Food Network stayed.

On HGTV, we are rooting for Kellie and Mark, although it's still pretty early. We absolutely can NOT stand Cathy--ugh, get her out of here!

On Next Food Network Star, we love Suzy...I would totally watch her show. We like Vic a lot, but we have actually really started to love Jeff. This show is now in the final 4, so we'll know soon.

I swear, we don't just sit around and watch tv all day. It's just rare that there is a show that Bech and I can agree on. But we both love these shows and love watching them together!

Anyone else watching them? Who do you like?

* Speaking of tv, I made the mistake of asking on facebook what Shark Week is. I just kept seeing it as peoples statuses and had no idea what they were talking about. I was quickly informed. Yesterday, I happened to actually find Shark Week on tv (completely by accident)--um, boring. I don't get all the hype. It was just people talking about their shark attacks. Call me weird, but I'd rather watch I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant any day over Shark Week.

* I swear this is my last comment about tv. I have been watching tv while I nurse Jack during the day. Have you ever watched tv around lunchtime? There is almost nothing good on. Even HGTV is sometimes a disappointment. So I have been watching iCarly. Don't judge. It is a really cute, really clean show. The first time Bech saw me watching it he definitely made fun of me. But I have noticed lately that he has been paying attention to (perhaps even watching!) the show when it's on.

I mean, how could you resist these cute kids?

Oh well, I have never been accused of being too mature, and I guess I never will!

* I am so excited for everyone to meet Jack, but I am definitely nervous, too. Jack gets really overstimulated. He loves to watch everything that's going on around him, and will stay awake and fight sleep just to see what's happening. You know how most babies sleep through church and outings? Not Jack, he wants to know what all is around him. And then he gets super tired and fights his naps.

But if we are home, just being calm, he goes to bed so easily. Literally, we swaddle him, he might fuss for a second, but we lay him down and he's out.

And Jack is definitely going to be overstimulated on this trip. He is going to be in so many new places and with so many new people. He is going to be held a lot and going to be off his routine. I am worried he is just really going to struggle with napping and then get fussy!

Oh well, I am worrying in advance, which drives Bech crazy! I need to just wait and see