Stellar Kart vs. Shrek the Third

Well, last night it was decision time... Bim and I had talked about each doing our own thing, I'd take Alex to a Stellar Kart concert, she would take the others to a movie.... I began to sense however, that Alex was more interested in a movie than in the concert. Turns out I was right. Turns out we went to Shrek the Third. It was pretty funny... I would recommend it, although as usual, the first is still the best.

Dear reader, have you any movie recommendations? New releases, old classic, live action, or animated, whatever, just let me know your thoughts.

That's all for tonight, I'm falling asleep.

News and pictures...

So we are taking down some more trees from our yard...

That big one in the front yard actually began to split and separate as the guys were cutting it down. My friends, Joe F and Joey V are doing the work. I'm a little annoyed however. These pictures were taken on Saturday and they still haven't come back to get all the brush off my lawn. Pretty soon there won't be any lawn under there!!!

The boys loved having the tractor over. I have to tell an Andrew story. He comes out to me while I'm working in the side yard... "dad, where's mom?" "she went out with Liz"...."dad, where's Alex?" "He's over at Zach's."... "dad, where's Ian?"... "He's in the front sweetie, playing on the tractor." As he begins to wander over to Ian, "thanks for the information dad."

How does a five year old get so precocious?

It's been too long...

I was rereading some correspondence from a dear friend and wanted to share his wisdom. These thoughts are not my own, but were extremely helpful to me...

I remember an old preacher saying, "The Lord is the only one who can humble us without humiliating us." (His name was T. E. Wilson). I think he got it right.

The purpose of humiliating someone is to cause them personal grief, and, perhaps for the one who does the humiliating, to feel superior. But the purpose of God's humbling is to get us going in the right direction and to accomplish His purposes in and through us.

The Scripture is clear. Whatever God does in our lives, He does it for our good (not merely for His glory). I profited from reading the first part of Heb. 12 again.

* our fathers chastened us and we respected them (even though they often did it for their benefit, not ours); if so, we ought also to respect our heavenly Father, rather than despising His chastening or fainting under it BECAUSE He always does it for OUR profit.

I also appreciated WHAT that profit is. In Romans 8:28-29, the good to which "all things" contribute is our conformity to Christ. But here is is "that we might be partakers of His holiness." In other words, that we might share His abhorrence of sin and its damages.

Hmmm.

It's been too long...

I was rereading some correspondence from a dear friend and wanted to share his wisdom. These thoughts are not my own, but were extremely helpful to me...

I remember an old preacher saying, "The Lord is the only one who can humble us without humiliating us." (His name was T. E. Wilson). I think he got it right.

The purpose of humiliating someone is to cause them personal grief, and, perhaps for the one who does the humiliating, to feel superior. But the purpose of God's humbling is to get us going in the right direction and to accomplish His purposes in and through us.

The Scripture is clear. Whatever God does in our lives, He does it for our good (not merely for His glory). I profited from reading the first part of Heb. 12 again.

* our fathers chastened us and we respected them (even though they often did it for their benefit, not ours); if so, we ought also to respect our heavenly Father, rather than despising His chastening or fainting under it BECAUSE He always does it for OUR profit.

I also appreciated WHAT that profit is. In Romans 8:28-29, the good to which "all things" contribute is our conformity to Christ. But here is is "that we might be partakers of His holiness." In other words, that we might share His abhorrence of sin and its damages.

Hmmm.