Archive for May, 2005

May 21st, 2005 Culinary Treat

I commented earlier on all the wonderful help we have received since our car accident and especially as we recover from injuries sustained. Last evening we enjoyed a unique and sweet expression of care from one of Jay’s co-workers whose wife evidently is a phenomenal Vietnamese cook.

Jay’s friend at work told him yesterday morning that in light of what had happened with the wreck, they wanted to do something for us and that if Jay was willing to drop by their house on the way home, his wife would have freshly made egg rolls waiting for him to take home to all of us for supper. Wow! As promised, Jay arrived here a little after 6pm with a huge pan of crispy, just-cooked egg rolls which we proceeded to dig into heartily. They were SO DELICIOUS! What a fantastic treat. Even the kids (well, two of them) enjoyed this meal, and we had fun using all different sorts of dipping sauces to eat our egg rolls. We had our fill, and there were even some left-overs to enjoy at a later time.

We continue to be truly touched by all the different outpourings of care and help we receive from so many different people.

May 17th, 2005 A Word from the Lady of the House

It would appear Jay has largely been keeping our family blog going (as he has been largely keeping alot of other things going around our household since the wreck and my injuries). But since I can type, I figure I should pitch in and and offer something to our faithful readers too!

It is not enough to write it here, but I would like to also publicly thank the multitude of people who have given of their time, energies and hearts to aid us in this rather challenging episode of our lives. I cannot believe we are still receiving meals regularly, having people care for our kids, grocery shop for us, drive our kids to school, and even stop in to do dishes and laundry and such. It is truly humbling to see the outpourings of love and deeds just continue. And, believe me: it is so encouraging to us, as we are not yet able to do on our own all that we would “normally” do to care for ourselves and our children.

I echo Jay in the thought that this past week and a half has been stunningly hard, and each day seems to bring another hardship, on top of the obvious “recovering from a car wreck” physical and emotional and logistical challenges. Jay continued to get sicker over the weekend and Monday morning saw him at the doc’s, where he was diagnosed with a whopper of a sinus infection on top of tummy issues. I seem to have succumbed to the Nicolas tummy bug on Sunday, so for the past two days I have dealt with that, and tried to cope with hardly any food intake, while being pregnant (not a good combination!).

This evening when Jay called home to tell me he was coming down with a bad migraine, it felt like the last straw. He has bravely worked through illness, and utter exhaustion, and done remarkably - I am so thankful and proud of him for the way he has cared for all of us - but there is no working through a migraine. And with all that has fallen upon his shoulders of late, I felt so distressed that he must bear yet one more burden. On top of this, he is still the main care-giver in the evenings due to some of my physical limitations, so having him out of commission for the night raised a whole host of issues: how would the children get bathed? the dishwasher emptied? everyone to bed? Stuff that normally I would just do on my own is not an option right now, and so it brought yet another hurdle to overcome, and it just felt like too much.

I fell apart emotionally, wondering why all of this has to happen just now. Well, within half an hour I had two sweet angels of mercy whom I will just call Jamie and Steph, on my doorstep to help. They fed my children dinner, emptied my washer, cleaned my kitchen, bathed my kids, helped me put them to bed, including songs and stories, and then proceeded to wash and fold more laundry. And aside from all their physical help, their presence was such a comfort to me, and to Jay. I heartily thank them for giving us their evening, for ministering to us so willingly. And I am so grateful for friends who love us enough to be here at a moment’s notice to care for our physical needs. Thank you!!

All this week while Jay’s Mom is out of town (she has continued to help us tirelessly every day through all the sickness, esp taking care of little Nicolas - thank you to her and to Dad, John for all the time she’s spent on our behalf!!) we have different friends who are hosting Nicolas for the day, to help care for him since I cannot yet lift him, drive, or bend, etc. He has had a great week thus far with all these fun and loving folks, and we are glad for their help too. There are also many friends helping with Abigail and Jonathan, taking them to parks, ponds, lunch, having them to their homes to play, and just generally helping them to enjoy being kids even if Mommy is not yet up to playing and keeping up with them as much as she’d like.

It is very late and I must get to bed, but I do so this evening with a heart full of thankfulness for all the blessings we have received and continue to witness as a result of the Body of Christ loving us and caring for us. God has continued, even with everything that has gone on, to provide for our every need, not always in the way we might have hoped or planned, but often in an even better way. Thank you to everyone who is a part of that provision - we love you and are grateful for you!

May 13th, 2005 When it rains, it pours

The rain has turned into a deluge, in two senses. First, our situation has seemingly gotten worse, not better, as we’ve dealt with significant illness this past week. Jonathan developed some sort of horrific cough and a fever this past weekend, which lingered for several days. Then on Monday, Nicolas spiked a fever, threw up, and started having horrible diarrhea. Though he only threw up a couple more times (Tuesday night), he continued with the overall problems for a few days. Now I seem to have gotten quite sick… not good.

In this downpour of discouragement, we have seen grace abound, raining down on us in equal measure. We continue to receive wonderful meals from folks at both our church and Abigail’s school, our children are being driven to and from school each class day by others, and we continue to receive much kind concern from all those with whom we interact.

May 7th, 2005 Idolater = corpse?

I recently had the opportunity to speak to a group at church on Psalm 115 [+/-]Psalm 115 [115:1]Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! [2]Why should the nations say, "Where is their God?" [3]Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. [4]Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. [5]They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. [6]They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. [7]They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. [8]Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them. [9]O Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. [10]O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. [11]You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. [12]The LORD has remembered us; he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron; [13]he will bless those who fear the LORD, both the small and the great. [14]May the LORD give you increase, you and your children! [15]May you be blessed by the LORD, who made heaven and earth! [16]The heavens are the LORD's heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man. [17]The dead do not praise the LORD, nor do any who go down into silence. [18]But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the LORD!
. As an interesting aside, the invitation came about three days prior to the car crash, and I was specifically asked to focus on verses 9 to 11 and the idea of God as our shield. My preparation was greatly disrupted in one sense, yet in a way I was far better prepared than I could have achieved through mere study.

Anyway, while doing the actual talk I noticed a feature of the text that I had previously missed. Here’s a brief outline of sorts I had drawn up.

A Psalm 115:1-3 [+/-]Psalm 115:1-3 [115:1]Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! [2]Why should the nations say, "Where is their God?" [3]Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
— God’s glory challenged/answered
B Psalm 115:4-8 [+/-]Psalm 115:4-8 [4]Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. [5]They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. [6]They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. [7]They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. [8]Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.
— idolaters like idols (inert, unfruitful)
C Psalm 115:9-11 [+/-]Psalm 115:9-11 [9]O Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. [10]O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. [11]You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield.
— Trust in the Lord (he is your shield)
B’ Psalm 115:12-16 [+/-]Psalm 115:12-16 [12]The LORD has remembered us; he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron; [13]he will bless those who fear the LORD, both the small and the great. [14]May the LORD give you increase, you and your children! [15]May you be blessed by the LORD, who made heaven and earth! [16]The heavens are the LORD's heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man.
— God blesses, all is fruitful
A’ Psalm 115:17-18 [+/-]Psalm 115:17-18 [17]The dead do not praise the LORD, nor do any who go down into silence. [18]But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the LORD!
— those who praise the Lord, those who don’t

So who are the dead that don’t praise the Lord (Psalm 115:17 [+/-]Psalm 115:17 [17]The dead do not praise the LORD, nor do any who go down into silence.
)? I’d originally thought this referred to those who had actually died, fitting in with some of the general statements earlier in the Old Testament prior to a more specific doctrine of life after death and resurrection becoming normative.

But that seems to miss the point of the psalm. Who challenges God’s glory at the start of the psalm? Idolaters. And how does the psalm describe idolaters? As dead people. If you read Psalm 115:5-7 [+/-]Psalm 115:5-7 [5]They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. [6]They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. [7]They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat.
as a riddle to someone, they would probably think you were talking about a corpse, and Psalm 115:8 [+/-]Psalm 115:8 [8]Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.
declares that idolaters become like their corpse-idols.

Such a reading firms up the chiastic structure and helps us read verses 12-16 in their proper context: as an answer to the lifelessness/fruitlessness of idol worshippers. What a great summary of creation and redemption! All creation is created for life, for fruitfulness, for people. Think of Genesis 1 [+/-]Genesis 1 [1:1]In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. [2]The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. [3]And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. [4]And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. [5]God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. [6]And God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." [7]And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. [8]And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. [9]And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. [10]God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. [11]And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth." And it was so. [12]The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. [13]And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. [14]And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, [15]and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. [16]And God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. [17]And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, [18]to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. [19]And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. [20]And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens." [21]So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. [22]And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." [23]And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. [24]And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds--livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so. [25]And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. [26]Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." [27]So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. [28]And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." [29]And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. [30]And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. [31]And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (ESV)
and the creation mandate. And this purpose is found in redemption, through the trust of God and the scorning of idols. God is life, and in him we have our life.

This approach to Psalm 115 [+/-]Psalm 115 [115:1]Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! [2]Why should the nations say, "Where is their God?" [3]Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. [4]Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. [5]They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. [6]They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. [7]They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. [8]Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them. [9]O Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. [10]O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. [11]You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. [12]The LORD has remembered us; he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron; [13]he will bless those who fear the LORD, both the small and the great. [14]May the LORD give you increase, you and your children! [15]May you be blessed by the LORD, who made heaven and earth! [16]The heavens are the LORD's heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man. [17]The dead do not praise the LORD, nor do any who go down into silence. [18]But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the LORD!
also seems to lend some nice detail to Jesus’ call to those who have ears to hear, tieing in with Isaiah 6 [+/-]Isaiah 6 [6:1]In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. [2]Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. [3]And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" [4]And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. [5]And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" [6]Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. [7]And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for." [8]And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." [9]And he said, "Go, and say to this people: "'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' [10]Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." [11]Then I said, "How long, O Lord?" And he said: "Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, [12]and the LORD removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. [13]And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled." The holy seed is its stump.
.

May 3rd, 2005 Crash, update 1

Thanks for all the thoughts, prayers, and help. Tricia and I have been amazed by the outpouring of concern and care this past week. We’ve got rides lined up for the boys to get to preschool, rides for Abigail to get to kindergarten, the laundry is done, meals continue to arrive… it’s incredible.

We’ve both felt that this whole ordeal would be much more manageable if it was just the two of us, rather than the five of us. But I suppose that’s the point. I’m teaching a class on communion right now in Sunday School in which we look at stories about food from the Old Testament (borrowing heavily from Peter Leithart’s Blessed Are the Hungry). When discussing Genesis 1 [+/-]Genesis 1 [1:1]In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. [2]The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. [3]And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. [4]And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. [5]God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. [6]And God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." [7]And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. [8]And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. [9]And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. [10]God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. [11]And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth." And it was so. [12]The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. [13]And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. [14]And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, [15]and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. [16]And God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. [17]And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, [18]to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. [19]And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. [20]And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens." [21]So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. [22]And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." [23]And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. [24]And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds--livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so. [25]And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. [26]Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." [27]So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. [28]And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." [29]And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. [30]And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. [31]And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (ESV)
and the fact that God created man hungry and ended the creation week by presenting a menu of sorts, a gentleman commented (warning: not an exact quote), “perhaps, contrary to our notions of independence equaling a more prefect state of being, dependence is actually godly”.

Tricia has had some good days and some bad days, but overall is doing well. Her mother joined us today and will be staying for several days, allowing me to return to work (thanks to Hannah and Paula for helping today so I could get into the office). It looks like it will be a long time before Tricia can manage the children on her own, but her level of comfort is improving nicely and we are learning to cope quite well.

One bit of great news: it looks as though the other party in the wreck is doing well. The police released our vehicle on Monday, so I went down to the pound to retrieve our stuff. We’re also making gradual progress on the insurance.