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Because I am a native Minnesotan, I am taking my son to see what ballparksofbaseball.com calls “one of the worst venues in baseball,” The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis.
It may not aesthetically pleasing, but we won’t be swatting at mosquitoes as we watch the Twins take on the dreaded Chicago White Sox in all its 72-degree beauty. Ah, summer! Next year, when the Metrodome will be abandoned for the great, new outdoor Target Field, we can talk about the wonders of outdoor baseball. But, for tonight, we’ll take what we can get.
My mother-in-law has a creative touch. God made these flowers, but she has tended them well!
Because today is Canada Day, I would like to express my appreciation for what I consider Canada’s best export — my mother-in-law, Dorothy Harmon. Her overall good will, charm and knowledge of what is “proper” (in the British sense) would have been winning qualities in themselves. But add to that her decision to move over a thousand miles south to “The States” and stay here, meet my father-in-law and later have my future wife and that says winner in my book.
Another of my favorite Canadians, Tim Challies, posted today about another reason that makes our neighbors to the north unique — they have two national anthems. Of course we know “O Canada” because it is a cool sounding, more easily sung song than ours here in the USA. But, as Tim explains, it was written in French and English and the translations go two directions. What a country! Tim, as is his wont, is thorough in explanation and gives the topic its due:
Thus we have two official national anthems, one written in French and one in English. It must be noted that the lyrics of these songs, even when translated to the same language, bear little resemblance to each other. Beyond the first two words there is little correlation in language or underlying themes. It is also interesting to note that while the songs are written in different languages, they were also written by men of different theological backgrounds. The English version is Protestant and emphasizes hard work and duty. The French version, written by a Roman Catholic, emphasizes history and national glory.
Today it is common for performances of the anthem to mix the French and English versions of the song. This leads to a rather interesting mixture of thoughts that actually makes the song seem quite militaristic.
O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
Just as your arm knows how to wield the sword,
It also knows how to bear the cross;
Your history is an epic
Of the most brilliant feats.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
In recent years the song has come under attack from various parties who claim that the anthem is either sexist or too religious. Some have suggested removing the words “in all thy sons command” to “in all of us command.” Others have suggested ways of removing the references to God. So far these suggestions have met with resistance, but it is likely only a matter of time before the changes are made. After all, this is the nation that has legalized homosexual marriage and has decriminalized marijuana. We’re on the forefront of political correctness.
In How To Be A Canadian, Will and Ian Ferguson suggest that a defining characteristic of Canadians is that they do not know their own anthem. Certainly they do not loudly sing it with pride as do our American neighbours (as I noted last night when I was at the ball game—barely a person there bothered to sing along). “First lesson as a newcomer to Canada: Whatever you do, do not learn the words to ‘O Canada’! Nothing will mark you as an outsider more quickly. Canadians don’t know the words to their national anthem, and neither should you.”
And, to finish the celebration, here is the talented Andrew Osenga (not Canadian, but still pretty good because he’s American) singing the praises of Canada:
Over the last few days over at the Desiring God blog, Paul Tripp has been answering questions. It’s been a great series, but I thought this one was particularly good:
What is the greatest hindrance to cultivating community in the American church?
The first thing that comes to mind is frenetic western-culture busyness.
I read a book on stress a few years back, and the author made a side comment that I thought was so insightful. He said that the highest value of materialistic western culture is not possessing. It’s actually acquiring.
If you’re a go-getter you never stop. And so the guy who is lavishly successful doesn’t quit, because there are greater levels of success. “My house could be bigger, I could drive better cars, I could have more power, I could have more money.”
And so we’ve bought an unbiblical definition of the good life of success. Our kids have to be skilled at three sports and play four musical instruments, and our house has to be lavish by whatever standard. And all of that stuff is eating time, eating energy, eating money. And it doesn’t promote community.
I think often that even the programs of a local church are too sectored and too busy. As if we’re trying to program godliness. And so the family is actually never together because they’re all in demographic groupings. Where do we have time where we are pursuing relationships with one another, living with one another, praying with one another, talking with one another?
I’ve talked to a lot of families who literally think it’s a victory to have 3 or 4 meals all together with one another in a week, because they’re so busy. Well, if in that family unit they’re not experiencing community, there’s no hope of them experiencing it outside of that family unit.
We have families that will show up at our church on Sunday morning with the boys dressed in their little league outfits, and I know what’s going to happen. They’re going to leave the service early. Now what a value message to that little boy! Do I think little league is bad? I don’t think it’s bad at all. I think it’s great. But they’re telling him what’s important as they do that.
You can’t fit God’s dream (if I can use that language) for his church inside of the American dream and have it work. It’s a radically different lifestyle. It just won’t squeeze into the available spaces of the time and energy that’s left over.
Read the rest of Tripp’s answer here.
Matt Chandler, pastor at The Village Church in Texas, is preaching through a series called “The Great Cause.” During this past Sunday’s message, “The Reason,” he spoke about how we really aren’t good at all, pointing to God loving us way more than we deserve. One part of the message I thought was particularly apt was when he talked about how our sins keep us from God.
In Isaiah 59:2 it says: “but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” When we are fallen we try to make secondary things in our lives the primary thing. The excerpt below is stinging in our church culture.
A recommendation from Mark Driscoll:
About the book, from Crossway Books:
We live in a time of crisis regarding marriage and the family, and only by a return to the biblical foundation can these institutions be rebuilt. To provide an integrated, biblical treatment of the full range of marriage and family issues, the authors of God, Marriage, and Family examine what Scripture says about God’s purposes for humans in their marriage and family interactions. Their examination covers the special issues stemming from marriage, childrearing, singleness, homosexuality, and divorce and remarriage. With study questions and points for further discussion, this book is a comprehensive yet concise resource for anyone seeking a Scriptural response to our culture’s complex challenges to God’s intentions for marriage and family.
To get Andreas Kostenberger’s “God, Marriage and Family: Rebuilding the Biblical Foundation,” go here.
You should, and it’s biblical. That it, if you believe verses like Prov. 13:24, which says: “Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.” And, if Jesus believed the Bible, then I think we can to.
Still squeamish about? Then maybe you should check out this post by John Piper, pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church.
My younger brother, who posts at Jedi Blog when he’s not doing his job as a major in the U.S. Army, has written a moving piece about something we can all relate to in some sense. Imagine being in a place that is far from the ones you love, where a good many people hate your guts, where the conditions are hard and you work long hours. Now imagine that the conditions you’ve been adapting to just got worse. Would you complain? Would you feel sorry for yourself? It would be so easy, and my brother makes it clear in his writing that the was definitely the mood. That is, until something changed.
Read here to find out what and then ask yourself if you’ve maybe been feeling sorry for yourself lately.
I came across this today and I have to say that, sadly, it had a familiar feel to it. This reminded me of some of the conversation we were having last night at our small group about how we lack intimacy with those within our own church because we are often harsher than the world with what we see as flaws and failures. Because of that tendancy, I think we tend to put on phony faces in front of each other like we see in the video. What happens is we are a) hypocritical and b) not really helped by or helping those around us.
My precious niece Amelia is popular with my two children and all of our family.
The Washington Post did a front-page story this past Sunday on what it’s like to live with and raise a child with Down syndrome. For those who haven’t been through it, it is an eye-opening look into what is a very difficult life.
Articles like this, of course, are being written because of the attention that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has brought to families who have Down syndrome children. These children are all around us, but, as one of the parents in the story says: “Before, kids would stare, but not adults. Everybody’s curious: ‘What’s it like to have a kid with Down syndrome?’ “
What’s it like for these families is put this way in the article:
Amelia is a blessing to all of our family and to those who meet her.
They spend more time in doctors’ offices than most parents. They endure stares from strangers but feel as if they and their children are invisible. They often find themselves fighting for their kids, not just raising them. Earlier, and perhaps more dramatically, they wrestle with the complex emotions that come from knowing that a child might never fulfill the lofty dreams that a parent often envisions before the child’s birth.
But the parents of children who have Down syndrome say that raising a child with a disability can also unlock profound and uplifting truths about themselves, their children and the value of life in ways that others could never see.
In our family, we have a beautiful gift from God named Amelia. She was born with Down syndrome to my wife’s brother and his wife to join their other three children. At age 2 she is still learning to stand on her own and maybe utters a handful of words, but she is world class in drawing tenderness from anyone who encounters her. It is a hard life for her parents as she has needs that press daily on them and her family, but I don’t doubt for a second that they love her every bit as much as her older brothers and sister.
One of the parents in the Washington Post article recounts an encounter with her sister that is a cruel reminder of how many in our society think the cruelest thoughts when it comes to Down syndrome children:
“My sister looked at me and said, ‘Why didn’t you abort her?’ ” Marsili recalled. “I said, ‘What? Because we love her, and she’s my baby, and we love her!’ ‘But you knew,’ my sister said. . . . It was pretty shocking. Even people that close to me.”
It is a dangerous place we’re at when we consider killing to be a solution for children who’s abilities are diminished. If it takes someone like Sarah Palin entering the spotlight for us to expose this kind of thinking — and rebuke it — then I think it is a good thing.
National Association for Down Syndrome
National Down Syndrome Society
HT: Wesley J. Smith
